Meet and Greet Report Back

Hello readers!

On Tuesday, October 23, we had our first SPEAK meeting. It went pretty well. The discussion topic for the first meeting was "Homophobic Horror Stories"- kind of a light-hearted spin on a serious conversation. Folks seemed to appreciate having the space to be able to share their experiences. Afterwards, we discussed how we could help prevent some of the stories that we shared from happening again as individuals and as an organization. The major takeaway point was that we must always speak up when we encounter social situations that are tinged with homophobic assumptions. Sometimes, we find that when we speak up, we help to educate people who didn't know that they were being offensive simply because they had never been told so. Other times, when we choose to speak up in settings that are overtly hostile or intentionally homophobic, we find that we are being brave for countless other people who don't yet feel safe enough to speak up themselves.

At the end of our discussion, we decided that we will meet every Tuesday at the same time (7 pm). Every 1st and 3rd Tuesday, we will be having informational meetings, while every 2nd and 4th Tuesday, we will be participating in a socializing activity (movie nights, poetry nights, game nights, etc.). On Tuesday, October 30th, we'll be having one of those "fun" nights. Stay tuned for more info...