JE: Extra Credit #1 LGBT Symposium

Volunteering for the LGBT Symposium was an amazing experience. I enjoyed seeing so many scholars involved in a field I have so much passion for. I did notice that there was a lack of scholars of color. Instead of letting it get me down, I decided to use it as motivation to be a scholar of color in that field. I greatly enjoyed listening to the scholars, especially the panels. My favorite panel was when somehow the conversation steered to the sexual position identities, i.e. top or bottom. The scholar on the panel kept using male pronouns and I think La Profe noticed because she asked what are the statistics on lesbians and the scholar said he didn’t have an answer but he thinks there should be one. Essentially statistics on lesbians are almost nonexistent. The symposium made me realize that academia needs lesbians of color to do research representing our community. A major highlight to the symposium for me was seeing the performance by Karen Anzoategui, a genderqueer Latina writer/performer/artivist. Her raw performance shook me to my core. As I was cleaning up, I actually bumped into her and we had the most awesome 5-minute conversation. We discussed her performance and I told her how awesome she was. We then bonded over our similar experiences going to a Catholic high school and coming out during that time. Karen is a beautiful soul and I feel grateful to have seen her perform. The symposium was a great memory of my undergraduate career and I hope we continue the tradition next year!