Hello Allen School! Today is National Coming Out day, a day to celebrate lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer (LGBTQ) awareness! We’re celebrating an exciting year at the Allen School for LGBTQ+ students:
- We had our first LGBTQ+ breakfast during grad visit days
- We started Q++, a mostly undergrad/5th yeah master focused student organization to build community (starting with an ice-cream social in the spring). LGBTQ community members can sign up for Q++ mailing list here: http://tinyurl.com/allen-qpp
- We sent students to the Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing, which included sessions on LGBTQ individuals
- We started regular LGBTQ grad meetups (if you’re interested, join the #lgbtq slack channel)
- Other cool stuff that we’re currently forgetting!
To celebrate with us, come to the Atrium, we have rainbow cupcakes*! You can also come ask us about other Allen School LGBTQ events throughout the year, ask about our #lgbtq slack channel, or simply come say hi!
While we celebrate this day of coming out, we acknowledge that there are many ways for LGBTQ individuals to exist, with or without being out. This article nicely touches upon why NCOD should be taken with a grain of salt!
Cheers,
Maarten (on behalf of the Diversity Committee)
* from Cupcake Royale; there are vegan and gluten free options too