minutes

Minutes
LGBT Concerns Committee
Jewish Studies Conference Rook, Walker Hall
February 26, 2003, 3:00-4:30

Attendance: Kendal Broad, Charles Brown, John Denny, Scott Feldman, David Landfair, Linda Lamme, Carlos Martinez, Michael Roedel, Mary Kay Schneider, Ken Wald, Amanda Wolfe

Reports from Campus Groups

… LGBT Student Affairs Cabinet - no report

… Gator Gay Straight Alliance - Scott reported that the GSA tabled for Valentine's Day with the theme that All Life Is Beautiful and Valentine's Day is for Everyone. A member of GSA is making plywood cutouts of same sex couples that will be placed around campus for a week and then on Friday united.

… Pride Student Union - Pride Awareness Month booklets are in the process of being produced. They will be available for April. The Pride Student Union will be taking nominations for "The Straight Ally of the Year" and "Great Service to the Pride Community" through the end of February. T-Shirts are being designed for Pride Awareness Month and they will be handed out. Elvira Kurt, Shane and Rachel from Road Rules, and The Divas Concert are some of the headlines for the month. The World AIDS Day quilt is being worked on and will be completed and presented to the University for Pride Awareness Month.

… Rainbow Alliance - Charles is setting up the UF Foundation account. The Rainbow Alliance will finance the research and service awards. They plan to contribute to the Pride Group, the Gator Gay Straight Alliance, and the LGBT Resource Center library on an annual basis. Charles is writing by-laws that are needed in order to establish a UF Foundation fund.

… Awards Committee - Amanda reported that the applications for the awards are due March 7. We discussed the idea of having the award presentations linked to a Pride event. Michael said he would get back with us on a date and time that would be good.
… Action: We voted unanimously to rename the award the Rainbow Alliance Award for LGBT Service and Research.

… Committee on Sexism and Homophobia - Mary Kay
There is a weekly film clip/discussion series in progress chaired by Elaine Casqualli. The group is having a hard time generating support for their projects.
o Friends - no news

Old Business

… Campus Climate Survey - Ken reported that the committee appointed with Gail Baker as chair will meet March 3. Members include Jeanna, Mike M. Ken, and Amanda.

… LGBT Colloquium - Failing to find a faculty person willing to offer a course on LGBT research on our campus, we decided that a one or two day colloquium might be a good idea, perhaps in conjunction with the Pride state conference. Last year 60 people attended the conference. Mike Roedel will keep us informed about that possibility for next year's conference.

… Methods of Reporting Harassment - Mike and Mary Kay are still working on a way for DSA to provide for anonymous reporting of harassment on campus.

New Business

… UF Together for a Safe Campus - Linda will invite Nick Vellas from the Community Relations Office to our next meeting. We may offer to conduct LGBT Training for Campus Police.

… New Associate Provost - Deborah Walker King is the New Associate Provost in Jacqueline Hart's office. We might want to invite her to a future meeting.

… 150th Anniversary Celebration - No report other than Joe Antonelli is presenting the history of the LGBT Gainesville Community on Monday April 14th for Gay Pride Month. Our committee would still like to sponsor an event during Gay Pride Month that would include a showing of the video "Behind Closed Doors" and a panel on the history of GLBT people at UF. We discussed whether that could be part of the program that Joe does.

… Transgender Issues - Kendal reported that two transgender people have been meeting with her as an informal support group. Both are anticipating a sex change and are fearful of losing their jobs at UF when they go through this procedure. We decided to start a list of trans-related policies that we would like to see in place at the University of Florida, including: