The Daily Gamecock: With Pride 10/3/22

Cover illustration: Sydney Lako

Table of

CONTENTS CONTENTS

Music in LGBTQIA+ clubs reflects diversity, inclusion: ‘No one can tell you you’re doing it wrong’

13PHOTOS: PT’s 1109 creates a safe space for self expression in Columbia

14Column: Advocates need to fill gap in S.C. HIV care

Curiosity Coffee Bar embodies its name by embracing intersection of food, arts, gender

The LGBTQIA+ community continues decades-long fight for rights in South Carolina

Student Government trailblazers paved way for current generation of gay Gamecocks

Letter from the creator: Start a conversation

Gamecock women’s soccer fosters inclusive environment across multiple fronts: ‘We’re not going to stand for any hate’

How The Daily Gamecock has covered the LGBTQIA+ community through the years

South Carolina Black Pride brings awareness to Columbia community

18Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion aims to establish pronoun policy at USC

Column: Younger generation should push back as S.C. bans LGBTQIA+ books in schools

Column: Remembering intersectionality is paramount to being a good ally

Q&A: USC professor offers perspective of LGBTQIA+ community, promotes transparency with students

Gamecocks find parallels between identity, environment

Letter from the Creator: START A CONVERSATION

Caleb Bozard

This print edition began with a conversation.

A historian told me about some of The Daily Gamecock’s LGBTQIA+ coverage from the 1970s and ‘80s. Some of it was bold and progressive.

Some of it was misinformed and hateful. Our conversation moved on, but it got me thinking about our student paper’s legacy and gave me an idea.

That first conversation led to many more with my fellow editors and reporters, designers and photographers, professors and experts, until today — where we can see “With Pride” with our own eyes.

This print edition, its stories and the voices it hopefully amplifies now sit on stands and in hands across our campus.

It is the first time The Daily Gamecock has published an edition focused on the LGBTQIA+ community.

This was made possible because of the tireless work of a group of students — some of whom are members of the LGBTQIA+ community, and some who aren’t.

Seeing my colleagues’ excitement to tell these stories — to tell stories of my community, even if it isn’t theirs — has helped heal the pain of years of feeling unaccepted and unworthy of companionship and compassion.

And it all started with one conversation.

I hope this print edition inspires more conversations. I hope it makes you feel like you have a community around you that supports you and will work to make you feel safe — like how I have felt while taking part in its creation. I hope it inspires you to help create that feeling for those around you.

We can help create a better future by knowing where we have been and where we are today. We can learn from the mistakes and painful experiences of ourselves and others. We can remind ourselves of those who have fought for and stood with us in the past so that we may continue their work for those who come after.

No print edition or single publication can tell the story of an entire community. This isn’t exactly the beginning of the work, but it certainly isn’t the end, either — for The Daily Gamecock, for me and hopefully not for you.

With pride,

Editor’s note: The colors of the flowers mirror that of various pride flags that represent different parts of the LGBTQIA+ community. For more information about these flags head to our website, https://dailygamecock.com/.

Photo: Amelia Farrell

How The Daily Gamecock has covered the LGBTQIA+ community through the years

The Daily Gamecock has covered the university since 1908, but its coverage of the LGBTQIA+ community has evolved significantly over the years.

By looking through archival coverage, we can see how our reporting evolved over time and mirrored — for better or worse — the fight for LGBTQIA+ rights on our campus, in our state and in the nation.

1970s

1972 - A group of students attempts to form the USC Gay Liberation Front, but are denied by the university. They try again the next year, with the same result.

1976 - Christine Jorgensen, an early highprofile trans woman, activist and the first person in the U.S. to receive a successful gender-reassignment operation, speaks at the Carolina Coliseum. The Daily Gamecock covers the event.

1979 - The Daily Gamecock reported on the university cracking down on potential LGBTQIA+ activity in bathrooms around campus, including in Russell House and Thomas Cooper Library.

1973 - The Daily Gamecock, then known as The Gamecock, published a series of stories on “Julie,” an anonymous trans woman and former student, detailing her experiences and pursuit of medical care.

Key:

TDG USC USAS.C.

Throughout the ‘70s and ‘80s, The Daily Gamecock ran stories and opinion pieces covering LGBTQIA+ issues, as well as anonymous ads by students trying to meet and organize. This is not as much the case in local publications such as The State, according to Allen. She theorizes the cost of advertising space or conservative attitudes at other publications may be the cause.

1950 s - The Lavender Scare purges LGBTQIA+ individuals from government positions. Senator Joseph McCarthy and other leaders of the purge believe LGBTQIA+ people to be more susceptible to communist influence and threats to national security.

1955 - Personal accounts in Historic Columbia’s research mention a raid resulting in the expulsion of several LGBTQIA+ students from campus, though concrete records have not been found. The Daily Gamecock’s reporting covers a disciplinary hearing which may have been connected, but administration withholds details.

1950s 1960s

The Daily Gamecock’s LGBTQIA+ coverage becomes more progressive due to the counterculture revolution of the ‘60s and ‘70s, according to Kat Allen, Director of Research and Interpretation at Historic Columbia.

“It’s kind of a big jump forward in terms of progressive issues during the ‘70s,” Allen said. “And again, that’s coming out of that counterculture era. And then you see a backlash, I think, in the ‘80s with Reagan and conservative politics.”

1980s

1980 - 1982 South Carolina women’s basketball coach Pam Parsons receives national attention for an exposed relationship with a female student and player. She is fired and serves a four-month jail sentence.

1981 - “Close the Closet,” a column by the opinion editor criticizing “Russell House homos” in Russell House bathrooms, helps prompt the formation of the Gay Student Association (GSA), the first LGBTQIA+ student organization on campus. Letters to the editor from both sides of the issue were published in the following weeks.

Caleb Bozard

1969 - The Stonewall Riots in New York City, a series of violent protests against police brutality against LGBTQIA+ people, serve as the symbolic beginning of the Gay Rights Movement.

Photo: Ken Lund | Wikimedia Commons

Archives of The Gamecock /

2010s & 2020s

2011 - The university creates a full-time position for LGBTQIA+ coordinator.

2011 - “Don’t ask, don’t tell” is no longer enforced.

2014 - A federal circuit court order legalizes gay marriage in S.C., the first same-sex marriage in the state takes place.

2015 - Obergefell v. Hodges Supreme Court ruling makes same-sex marriage legal in all 50 states.

2000s

2009 - The Daily Gamecock covers the 20th anniversary of Columbia pride.

2006 - S.C. legislature passes amendment legally defining marriage as between a man and a woman.

2004 - Massachusetts becomes the first state to legalize same-sex marriage.

2004 - The first openly LGBTQIA+ student body president is elected.

2003 - S.C.’s felony sodomy laws are invalidated by US Supreme Court ruling on a similar law in Texas.

2016 - 50 people are killed in a mass shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando. It is the deadliest in the nation’s history at the time.

2022 S.C. bans trans individuals from competing in public school and collegiate women’s sports.

1981 - The first cases of HIV/AIDS in LGBTQIA+ individuals are reported by the Centers for Disease Control.

1983 - Headline: “Gay Pride Week makes USC proud” — coverage of the first Pride celebration on campus and in Columbia, hosted by the GSA. DHEC gives an AIDs lecture at Russell House as part of the event. “That was the real turning point for The (Daily) Gamecock, I think, was that week, we had that Gay Pride Week and they said ‘Gay Pride Makes USC proud’,” Tony Price, GSA founder, said. “I get very emotional when I think about it, that we had come so far in just under two years — from ‘Close the Closet’ to that particular headline.”

FILE — Performers and participants in Columbia’s Famously Hot Pride Parade on Sept. 12, 2009, gathered to celebrate the event in Finlay Park.

2022 - “With Pride,” The Daily Gamecock’s first LGBTQIA+-themed print edition, is published.

1990s

1997 - Comedian and sitcom star Ellen DeGeneres comes out on her show and with an appearance on the cover of TIME Magazine.

1993 - President Clinton signs “Don’t ask, Don’t tell,” ending the ban on LGBTQIA+ people in the military but preventing them from coming out.

1990 - The first pride march is organized in Columbia.

1981 - 1983 - The GSA is represented by the American Civil Liberties Union in a legal battle with the university after the administration refused to approve the GSA organizing on campus. The court rules in favor of the GSA, which begins hosting events in 1983. The GSA still operates on campus under the name Individuals Respecting Identity and Sexuality (IRIS).

“(Our lawyer) was like David and (the) university was like Goliath when we went to court,” Price said.

1985 - GSA hosts the LIPS drag show — now known as The Birdcage — at Russell House for the first time.

1988 - LGBTQIA+ students flood the personals section with coming out messages for the first National Coming Out Day on Oct. 11.

FILE — Shirley Sennez displayed an amazing look alike to Dionne Warwick at the first LIPS drag show in 1985.

Archives of The Gamecock / S.C. Newspaper Repository

Illustration: Sydney lako

Zachery Scott, the first openly LGBTQIA+ student body president.

Photo courtesy of Zachery Scott

Photo: Adriana Dail

Archives of The Gamecock / SC Newspaper Repository

Editor’s note: Sydney Dunlap, Matea Jacobs, Emmy Ribero and Max White contributed to the reporting in this article.

South Carolina Black Pride brings awareness to Columbia community

Bailey Brown

People regularly question Darius Jones, the president and CEO of South Carolina Black Pride, why the Black pride movement exists separate from statewide LGBTQIA+ communities.

His answer: Black pride is important and distinctively different from the greater LGBTQIA+ community’s pride.

That is why, for the past 16 years, S.C. Black Pride has given a dedicated space for LGBTQIA+ groups and communities of color to express themselves freely, even as other groups serve somewhat similar purposes.

The organization’s mission is to unite LGBTQIA+ communities of color to promote human rights for all.

“We celebrate pride our way, we celebrate it the way we’ve always known,” Jones said.

Every year since it was founded in 2009, the organization puts on S.C. Black Pride Week to educate others on the experiences of LGBTQIA+ people of color. The weeklong celebration gives people in the community a place to feel welcomed.

Jones attributed the inspiration for the intersectional nature of the organization to the 1969 Stonewall Rebellion — a series of protests caused by police raids on the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City, that is considered the start of the gay rights movement — because, although the participants were protesting one oppression, many sought equality on multiple fronts.

“Most of the individuals were Black and Brown people, Latino people, individuals of color, and we wanted to make sure that we didn’t get lost in the whole pride movement,” Jones said.

Members said it is important to ensure their existence is acknowledged and prioritized.

Rosheka Davis, an attendee of S.C. Black Pride Week 2022, said she enjoys the liberation Black Pride Week provides for the Columbia community. Davis has been attending for the past five years and said she appreciates the unification of different people from different backgrounds.

“It doesn’t matter your sexual orientation or any of that, let’s all just come together and have a good time in the name of love. Love wins,” Davis said.

Willie Antwann, the Event Coordinator of S.C. Black Pride, said he made it a point to incorporate these artists into the week’s events to celebrate their contributions to the communities they represent.

Aiko Finesse Herbert, known professionally as DJ Aiko Finesse, was a featured artist in the S.C. Black Pride lineup. Finesse, a trans, local DJ, said he uses his platform to be a voice for other trans men.

“When you’re coming out as gay, African American and trans, that’s a lot of weight,” Finesse said.

Finesse underwent surgery as part of his transition in recent years. He said people came up to him at S.C.Black Pride to express how his courage inspired others at Black Pride to move forward with their own transitions.

Finesse has not seen many transgender people at S.C. Black Pride but hopes that if he continues to DJ the events, more will be encouraged to attend.

The annual Black Pride Week, which the organization puts on every August, was highlighted by three cornerstone events this year. A welcome reception that kicked off the week was accompanied by a cultural arts and wellness festival that gives artists a place to express themselves while selling art, and the Unity Block Party, which includes music, dancing and competitions.

“One of the things that we try to focus on is the arts and making sure we give individuals in our community the opportunity to display their art and their talent in front of an audience that is going to appreciate it and that can relate to it,” Jones said.

S.C. Black Pride has been able to promote the well-being of LQBTQIA+ people of color over its history by working with sponsors like CAN Community Health to raise awareness of issues regarding HIV.

Kamron Singleton, program specialist at CAN Community Health, said she has seen the positive changes within the Columbia community.

“I believe Columbia is starting to transition into a better accepting and understanding of individuals that’s living a different lifestyle,” Singleton said. “So I think events like this is necessary to give that awareness and give those safe spaces for these type of individuals.”

Music in LGBTQIA+ clubs reflects diversity, inclusion: ‘No one can tell you you’re doing it wrong’

caleb bozard & amelia farrell

Music can help make gay clubs feel like centers of community for everyone, according to those who create and participate in it.

Songs in Columbia’s LGBTQIA+ clubs and venues, like the Capital Club and PT’s 1109, reflect the diverse tastes and experiences of performers and attendees.

Elena DeVour, a performing drag queen and Show Director at the Capital Club, said the club looks to feature a diverse range of performers, including people of color, transgender performers and drag kings. She said it’s important to the club to lift up artists who are queer themselves or support the LGBTQIA+ community as allies.

The music — whether sung live or lip-synced — is chosen by the performer, according to DeVour. The Capital Club features a “melting pot” of music varieties: from rock to rap songs and even traditional Egyptian music, she said.

DeVour said there is a carefree attitude and freedom of expression that accompanies drag and performing to a range of music styles.

“You can kind of do whatever you want with music, and no one can tell you you’re doing it wrong, cause it’s drag,” DeVour said.

The variety of music played by DJs in clubs and venues can introduce people to new genres and new generations of music, according to Lady T, a frequent performer at PT’s 1109 club.

Lady T said music with a message of unity helps contribute to the clubs feeling like safe, community-driven spaces. She mentioned Cher and David Bowie as older artists who, while not necessarily out members of the LGBTQIA+ community, are examples of allies and are icons of the community’s musical identity.

“Now of course, you have Lady Gaga, you have a whole bunch of other artists that stand with the LGBTQ+ community, who actually do things for the LGBTQ+ community,” Lady T said.

Lady T takes her stage name from Lady Gaga, whose music, outfits and choreography are staples of Lady T’s performances. Lady T’s sets include a variety of lip-synced as well as livesung vocals, which she said is more common amongst drag performers than one might think.

offering an outlet to express themselves without restraint, according to DeVour.

“It’s a home — even if you never come — we’re all family here,” DeVour said. “It’s a place for you to come, be yourself, forget about all the bullsh*t in the world and just enjoy good music and a great show.”

Though drag performers can choose the music they perform to, some make certain choices depending on the crowds at the clubs.

Dorae Saunders, who performs in drag as well as MC’s events, said the demographics of the club, such as age, can determine if older or newer mixes are played. Considering the backgrounds of everyone in a club is paramount to creating a welcoming club atmosphere, according to Saunders.

“I want them to feel included, a sense of inclusivity that everyone is welcome, and that the music reflects everyone that’s in the bar,” Saunders said.

Saunders said she looks for lyrical and uplifting content in the music that she enjoys and chooses to perform.

The thematic messages of some songs, such as Ray Charles’s “It Ain’t Easy Being Green,” are especially compelling to certain audiences, in Beau O’Bishop’s experience.

and I’m looking at some people who are weeping because they’re like, ‘I heard what you said. You said that it’s not easy for people who look like you,’” O’Bishop said.

O’Bishop said he often performs to music by Todrick Hall as Hall, an openly LGBTQIA+ musical artist, actor and choreographer, represents experiences of the community.

O’Bishop got his start performing by winning a contest he had entered, resulting in him opening for Hall at a 10,000-person concert in Charleston, he said.

The enjoyment of the crowd is better than any financial incentive to perform, according to Lady T.

“If I can maybe reach at least one person by my performance — whether I’m all covered in blood because I’m doing some kind of Halloween performance or if I’m actually singing a ballad or something — if I can reach one person to make them smile or to make them laugh, enjoy, that’s what I look at,” Lady T said. “It’s all about the crowd ... if there weren’t any crowd, we’d just performing to chairs, which I’ve done that before.”

The key role that music plays in society is reflected in the clubs as well, according to O’Bishop.

Photo: Hannah Flint

An LGBTQIA+ version of the American flag hangs in The Capital Club on Sept. 15, 2022. The Capital Club is one of Columbia’s most celebrated LGBTQIA+ inclusive bars — being awarded Best Gay Bar by the FreeTimes in 2018.

“I try to encourage that, because it’s really awesome,” Lady T said. “People seem to have a great response to it, they like to hear live singing.”

Gay-friendly clubs in Columbia aim to entertain clubgoers with drag performances and DJ-ed music, while also

O’Bishop is a Black drag king, or male impersonator, and performs the song, which has lyrics that describe feeling overlooked and undervalued due to the color of one’s skin.

“I’ve performed that song before, and I’m walking through the crowd accepting dollar bills

“Could you imagine going to a bar, and there’s no music?” O’Bishop said. “That wouldn’t even be a bar, it would just be going to any place and just being there.”

Editor’s Note: Hannah Ballantyne contributed to the reporting in this article.

PT’S 1109 CREATES A SAFE SPACE FOR SELF EXPRESSION IN COLUMBIA, S.C.

PT’s 1109 has been a friendly hotspot in the Vista for the LGBTQIA+ community for the past 20 years. Attendees can watch vibrant drag shows at the gay-friendly bar five nights a week and get a taste of how the bar embraces the vibrant local LGBTQIA+ community in Columbia, S.C.

Songbird Lady T strikes a pose during her performance at PT’s 1109 on Sept. 10, 2022. PT’s hosts local kings and queens five nights a week.

Dorae Saunders closes the Saturday night drag show at PT’s 1109 on Sept. 10, 2022. She channeled old Hollywood glam into the night’s finale.

Songbird Lady T makes her way down the aisle at PT’s 1109 on Sept. 10, 2022. She collects money from patrons during her final performance of the night.

Calista Pushman

Beau O’Bishop performs at PT’s 1109 on Sept. 10, 2022. He closed his show with one hand on his hip and the other holding a fan customized with his name and face on the front.

Songbird Lady T brings drama to her second set at PT’s 1109 on Sept. 10, 2022. Her outfit change featured bright red accents and a royal robe.

Dorae Saunders takes a break from hosting the drag show at PT’s 1109 to perform her own set on Sept. 10, 2022. Decked in red from head to toe, she accented her romantic performance with a cheetah print fan.

Songbird Lady T puts passion into her performance at PT’s 1109 on Sept. 10, 2022. PT’s, which is known best for its drag shows, hosts local kings and queens five nights a week.

Beau O’Bishop returns for his second set at PT’s on Sept. 10, 2022. His outfit change featured a bedazzled butterfly suit and matching white fedora.

Dorae Saunders surprises the audience with a costume change during her show at PT’s 1109 on Sept. 10, 2022. After finishing a romantic ballad, Saunders twirls into a new, shorter version of her original outfit.

ADVOCATES NEED TO FILL GAP IN S.C. HIV CARE COLUMN:

Win Hammond

There is a notable gap in care, transportation and testing for HIV patients in S.C. That gap must be filled by community organizers and healthcare providers.

HIV is a virus transmitted through bodily fluids and used needles, according to Planned Parenthood. HIV is relatively uncommon STD compared to gonorrhea and chlamydia, the most common in S.C., but it disproportionately affects the LGBTQIA+ community as well as Black and Latino Americans, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and DHEC.

It may only take a handful of pills a day for a person living with HIV (PLHIV) to live a longer, healthier life, according to the National Institute of Health.

According to the 2020 California HIV surveillance report, California has been able to, for the most part, diagnose and retain the patients who seek out care. This means that this type of care is possible. This isn’t the case for South Carolina.

South Carolina has some of the most regressive laws regarding HIV in the country. For instance, it is a felony for a PLHIV to have sex with someone without disclosing that they are HIV positive first.

HIV is a far cry from the threat it used to be for patients with health insurance. Despite not having a definitive cure, patients can live long lives and even be untransmittable if they’re able to receive proper, continued care.

The status doctors strive for in PLHIV is called U=U, which means Undetectable = Untransmittable, meaning that PLHIV who receive care long enough for them to test for HIV and come up undetectable cannot transmit the virus. If a test can’t show the presence of HIV in a patient, the patient can’t transmit HIV to a partner.

However, getting continued care is a challenge for some. One in three PLHIVs in S.C. have fallen out of care, meaning a PLHIV has received care at some point, but due to financial challenges, transportation or more, they cannot go back for follow-ups needed for the rest of their lives, according to Dr. Sayward Harrison of the Arnold School of Public Health and DHEC.

One of the biggest factors keeping many patients with HIV unable to regularly go see a doctor or fill a necessary prescription is the lack of affordable insurance or coverage. Many patients are left waiting for affordable care, and will probably be waiting for a while. If the S.C. government won’t support PLHIV, PLHIV and their allies need to rely on themselves.

“HIV is now one of the much easier (chronic health conditions to manage),” Sayward Harrison, a professor at the Arnold School of Public Health, said.

The medicine has advanced far enough for people with HIV, but the war still rages on with many opponents in stigma-rooted in homophobia and classism, as well as other ecological factors like affordable care and transportation.

For HIV rights advocate and consultant for AIDS Healthcare Foundation, David Alexander, HIV rights’ primary opponent is ignorance from government, the church and other community leaders.

“The stigma is real. And it’s alive and it’s present as if it was 20 years ago,” Alexander said.

South Carolina laws such as it being a felony for a PLHIV to have sex with someone without disclosing that they are HIV positive first ignores U=U. In fact, it’s unclear if this law protects anyone. In all cases in which this law was enforced, the court summary did not disclose if the sexual partner tested positive for HIV, according to the Center for HIV Law and Policy.

These are outdated laws before U=U and when HIV/AIDS was novel. Not to mention, the state’s lack of legislation against hate crimes.

Even so, South Carolina has made some progress in care for PLHIV. A lot of that progress would be impossible without DHEC and Tony Price.

Price was an advocate for LGBTQIA+ and HIV rights in the 1980s and founded USC’s first LGBTQIA+ student org, Gay Straight Alliance. Early on, the battle for HIV rights was one against ignorance.

Price recalled using leaflets to show people that they won’t get AIDS from a toilet seat or eating off the same plate or utensils. Early advocates for HIV rights were fighting a stigma in its infancy, and one that catalyzed homophobia.

“(HIV) highlighted in the minds of those who wanted to use it to highlight, just all of the negative things that people could come up with about gay men,” Price said.

Now, his role as Program Manager of the HIV and Viral Hepatitis Prevention Program at DHEC focuses on getting people tested, often due to a stigma still alive.

Initiatives advocating for PLHIV form every now and then, but they are still confronting a neglectful government.

Advocates in government like Price can only send so much money, but until then, community organizers will have to fill the void with accessible testing, care and support for a virus that disproportionately effects the LGBTQIA+ community.

Gamecock women’s soccer fosters inclusive environment across multiple fronts: ‘We’re not going to stand for any hate’

Third-year sport and entertainment management student Abby Platt lives by a piece of advice her mother gave her at a young age while she grew up in a small New York town.

“‘I don’t care as long as you’re happy,’” her mother told her. “It was really nice growing up always having that voice being like, ‘I love you and I want you to be happy,’” Platt said.

That supportive environment has carried over from the Platt household onto the South Carolina women’s soccer team, where players strive to preach inclusivity and support teammates of all races and sexualities.

Platt, who works as a student manager for the team, and fifth-year midfielder Claire Griffiths — who are both part of the LGBTQIA+ community — discovered their sexualities at early ages.

Soccer served as an outlet for stress and a source of inspiration for the two of them.

“With the women’s national team, on any given day, there’s three to four, minimum, gay players on the team for people to look up with,” Platt said. “Ashlyn Harris and Ali Krieger met each other playing soccer and then got married a couple years ago and now have two kids. Seeing that it’s all possible within sports too is just really great … I saw that she was happy with what she was doing (and) her teammates supported her.”

Griffiths said she relied on her twin sister, the first person she came out to, to help her become more comfortable with herself and her sexuality.

“She’s straight, so she’s not a member of the LGBTQ+ community, but she was so loving and accepting, she encouraged me to be my true authentic self,” Griffiths said. “She was my ally whenever I did go home and tell extended family members or my parents. She was always my rock through it.”

Although she surrounded herself with supportive friends and family, Platt said one of the biggest internal conflicts she experienced before coming out was the Catholic Church’s stance on the matter.

“It’s kinda drilled into your head from the very beginning of like what’s right and what’s wrong, and then you find yourself being like, ‘Well, hey, that’s how I feel, but I’ve always been told that’s not really right,’” Platt said.

Griffiths cited navigating locker room dynamics as one of the mental roadblocks that made coming out even more difficult.

“I didn’t want to make any of my teammates feel uncomfortable because none of them were making me feel uncomfortable by any means,” Griffiths said.

Despite these concerns, both Platt and Griffiths said their fears evaporated once they became members of the team, especially after interacting with other players. An interaction the two of them shared while watching presidential election coverage on television together during the 2020 season also helped relieve some internal tension.

“She made a joke about being like, “Yeah, I’m really worried that I’m not going to be able to get married after this election,’ and I was like, ‘Me too,’” Platt said. “And that’s the first person I told was Claire, and she was like, “Oh, cool, you too?’ That was kinda just it, like ‘Oh, sick, we’re both just watching the election worrying about our right to get married.’”

Griffiths said her teammates’ willingness to have conversations and comfort when talking about those topics to her brought an enhanced sense of belonging and togetherness.

“I’m willing to answer any of their questions because LGBTQ things are still taboo in a lot of communities,” Griffiths said. “So many times, ignorance is bliss, but they were so willing to understand what were things they could say versus what things they couldn’t, because they didn’t want to cross a line.”

Redshirt senior midfielder Samantha Chang said she uses gender-neutral terms — like “partner” instead of “boyfriend” or “girlfriend” — and listens to her teammates to gain a new perspective.

“It’s important to appreciate people for who they are now, regardless of where they come from or what they’ve dealt with,” Chang said. “It

is hard for anybody to come out … so I think it’s important just to hear people’s stories and understand that everybody goes through a different experience.”

Along with one-on-one conversations, the team frequently has group discussions about important issues to give players a platform to voice opinions and promote positive change.

“When we were all making a decision whether we were going to kneel or stand for the anthem, we had those conversations together because it’s important,” Griffiths said. “Even though there’s huge things that are dividing our nation, we weren’t going to let any of that divide our team — we were going to respect the decisions each other made because we are a family.”

Those words have turned into action in many ways, including the decision to put inclusive messaging on the team’s jerseys. Each uniform has a patch that reads “Matter is the minimum.”

“While the LGBTQ community was not directly intertwined with it, it was seeing a really good unified front … (was) a good sign for everything else,” Platt said.

After initially being worried about losing friends and family because of her decision, Griffiths said she has built an inclusive community with the team and has grown tremendously since she first came out.

“It’s a testament to the program we have and the type of players and the group of girls,” Griffiths said.

Griffin Goodwyn

The South Carolina women’s soccer team poses for a group photo after the NCAA tournament against North Carolina on Nov. 13, 2021.

photo courtesy of Caroline Barry

OFFICE OF DIVERSITY, EQUITY, INCLUSION AIMS TO ESTABLISH PRONOUN POLICY AT USC

Holly Poag

USC faculty and students began earnestly discussing a project to create guidelines around pronouns in the classroom a couple of years ago. USC does not have an official pronoun policy, which leaves professors and students to make up their own guidelines.

Julian Williams, the VP of Diversity,

“(Some) individuals have already shared their pronouns and then come to find out that people are talking about them behind their back, saying that they are doing things for attention, trying to ascertain very transphobic and also sexist ideologies,” Wolfe, who is trans, said.

As an instructor, Wolfe interacts with preferred pronouns among students and professors. He often encourages students to mirror him when he includes his pronouns in his introductions. Most interactions with instructors are positive, but Wolfe has recognized some discomfort when encouraging other instructors to use pronouns.

“That’s where I see the discrepancy,” Wolfe said. “You know, in the classroom, if you’re a student, there’s a huge power differential in you and your instructor. So it’s very much going to depend on how much do you feel it’s comfortable to take actions and matters into your own hands, because the vast majority of (professors) do not share their pronouns.”

The Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is also launching a website for the guidelines and will set expectations for community members for pronoun usage and how the DEI office will implement these guidelines.

but will not mandate that faculty and staff members must use a student’s preferred name and pronouns.

Williams is working with the registrar, HR and IT to set up systems within Microsoft Office 360, Banner and CarolinaCard so faculty, students and staff can add their preferred names and pronouns to each program.

“We will provide guidance and education to community members as to why we think it’s important that they do so,” Williams said. “But we can’t mandate that a faculty member utilize that information. From my perspective, I think most of our faculty and staff members will do so.”

Atticus Wolfe, an instructor in the sociology department and doctoral student, hasn’t faced discrimination at USC for encouraging the use of pronouns. However, he knows other graduate and undergraduate students who have been victims of discrimination.

Williams does not have a set time period when the policy will be officially implemented.

Gianna Modicamore, the co-founder of Pride and club focused on creating

a network professionally focused LGBTQIA+ individuals, and a 2022 USC graduate, compared the frequency of using pronouns in student life and in the classroom. She said she believed students are generally good at respecting others’ pronouns.

However, most professors didn’t use pronouns in her classes and never asked for students.

“I definitely did notice a difference in my classes,” Modicamore said. “I was a business major, so I don’t think I had one professor in the business school that asked us for our pronouns. So that was definitely kind of disappointing.”

As of now, students, faculty and staff can include their pronouns in my.sc.edu’s identity management system. On Sept. 7, the USC IT Department announced that students and faculty would also be able to put pronouns in Blackboard.

Modicamore believes using pronouns in a classroom setting should be mandated, describing it as a “common courtesy.”

“I think it just expresses inclusion and expresses respect for people that you’re dealing with,” Modicamore

Meanwhile, Wolfe acknowledges USC’s inclusivity progress but doesn’t believe USC has followed through with the protection of marginalized communities. He believes USC has done a worse job when stacked up against other public universities.

According to Campus Pride, a nonprofit organization to protect LGBTQIA+ communities on college campuses, at least 788 colleges in the U.S. allow students to choose their first name instead of their legal/dead name. However, approximately 242 colleges enable students to indicate preferred pronouns on course rosters.

In South Carolina, Clemson University is the only public college that allows students to indicate preferred pronouns.

Williams wants faculty, students and staff to know his office is actively working on implementing options to choose pronouns in university databases.

“The feedback we have gotten has been appreciative, but also students, faculty members and community members, they want to know when this information is going to then show up in other systems across the university,” Williams said.

Infographic: Gillian Thomas

Younger generation should push back as S.C. bans LGBTQIA+ books in schools

Arianna Bertolotti

The state of South Carolina must champion the younger generation in its journey for equality for the LGBTQIA+ community, especially as bans on LGBTQIA+ books and antiquated beliefs have taken the spotlight in this state.

Banning these books not only hinders the education of South Carolina’s next generation, but it also instills a great deal of fearmongering with respect to this community.

This movement came about in response to Maia Kobabe’s memoir “Gender Queer,” which allegedly portrayed pornographic illustrations and topics within the novel, according to reporting done by NBC News. In South Carolina, Gov. Henry McMaster called for the book to be banned in all schools last year.

Since the 2015 Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage, the LGBTQIA+ community has made significant strides in its work towards equality through marches, protests and petitions demanding

maintain hegemonic force, or dominant force, over the narrative is to spin the narrative,” Jabari Evans, assistant professor of race and media, said. “So in saying that schools are possibly putting pornographic material in front of youth, that’s clickbait right? It’s something that, if done and executed in the right way, can mislead some folks and give misinformation.”

Spinning the audience’s perspective to create fear for these topics on behalf of their children only creates a false reality and fosters a negative association with the LGBTQIA+ community.

The fear created due to new laws being passed is discouraging to the people of this community. It instills the sense that progress is moving backward rather than forward.

“Well, I have to say I’m not surprised,” Sam McKenzie, a USC law student, said. “But you know, that is really awful for not just my community but people in general because that’s how you learn about other people’s experiences.”

Boosting this ignorance creates fallacies and, ultimately, an under-educated populous in regards to topics of diversity

Not only has McMaster been condemned for the move to ban LGBTQIA+ books, but also for approving a law this year that effectively bans transgender students from participating on sports teams that align with their gender identity.

This law exemplifies how a community that has fought for decades to earn basic equality has to now face stark opposition from its own governing leaders. South Carolina does not have a good support system for the LGBTQIA+ community, and it is prevalent to its members.

“I find it very disappointing,” Gianna Modicamore, a USC alum and previous president of Pride in Professionalism club,

said. “I think for some people that don’t really understand the full issue, the idea of young children being exposed to these issues is a bad thing, but, I mean, I think it’s quite the opposite.”

Without being taught love and acceptance of all from a young age, each new generation will perpetuate the cycle of ignorance in society.

Evans has championed for the younger generation to be the change. Though the LGBTQIA+ community is currently facing backlash in South Carolina via McMaster’s recent approval of restrictive legislation, Evans is looking, encouraging and preparing the future generations to introduce some much-needed changes through his race and media classes.

“I think most Gen Z-ers, and those under Gen Z, are very inclusive and very understanding and very empathetic towards minorities and very understanding of the lived experiences that they may hold, and I think they’re more willing to question authority,” Evans said.

McMaster’s movement to ban books about LGBTQIA+ topics is a clear step backwards after the significant progress the community has made over recent years, but it is time for people with power in this state to champion inclusivity moving forward. Banning books won’t stop the spread of knowledge, it will only heighten the need for more transparency and education.

If it does not start with our generation, who will be the one to initiate change? Making change may feel uncomfortable at first and will inevitably be unfavorable for some, but, in the end, this work will give a voice to the many that have been silenced. The next class of South Carolinians in positions of power need, now more than ever, to be empathetic and work towards equality across the board.

Illustration: Ronnie Rahenkamp

Curiosity Coffee Bar embodies its name by embracing intersection of food, arts, gender

Arainbow Christmas tree, greeting cards for the LGBTQIA+ community and colorful mugs produced by LGBTQIA+ artists decorate the inside of Curiosity Coffee Bar located in Elmwood Park. They’re an integral part of both the business and the inclusive community that the owners aspire to build, according to owner Sandra Moscato.

These products are the owners’ way of showing the store is a welcoming space. An inclusive community is what owners Greg Slattery and Moscato had in mind when they opened in 2017. It was their mission to combine good food and drink with a community space, they said.

“If you want to be a space for a community, then you have to do things specifically to let them know they are accepted and let them know that they are loved and appreciated in the space,” Slattery said. “And that it goes beyond just not hating someone. It’s actively going out of your way to find ways to engage with the community that you want to feel safe.”

Inclusion and representation are highlighted at every turn. When stocking the shelves, LGBTQIA+ artists are featured, and Slattery curates books that highlight cultural issues. Pride-related stickers sit next to the register — they’re hugely popular, according to manager Abigail Moellering.

“You’ll get rural, Southern, little-old-ladies coming in, buying up all these stickers that say like ‘Queer Visibility’ and (they will) say that they’re gonna put them in their grandkids’ stockings,” Moellering said.

Yet, the draw of the Coffee Bar is the food and beverage items. Moscato notes that the staff likes to use Pride as a theme in the recipe and drink development. Little things like taking the time to do rainbow icing are a fun way to express Pride, according to Slattery.

“(The staff can) put themselves out there as far as bakers and baristas and their identity,” Moscato said. “We’re gonna put that out there, and it might upset some of our community, but we know it’s important to be who we are.”

While conscious decisions come into play when making menu choices, many staffers are a part of the LGBTQIA+ community so accepting choices come naturally.

“I think we just have a very queer staff in just a very general use of the word,” Slattery said.

This isn’t just another instance of rainbow washing, which is the practice of signaling acceptance of the LGBTQIA+ community without real action, they said. Slattery said they avoid hosting Pride-specific events to avoid exploiting the very idea of Pride.

“In place of that, doing events throughout the year that support that community because it’s a community that we feel part of,” Slattery said.

While a welcoming environment for customers is important, making employees feel seen can go a long way, according to Moellering.

Moellering started including pronouns next to names in the schedule at Curiosity as one step towards active acceptance of LGBTQIA+ customers and staff. Moellering sees this as a way to make a more welcoming workplace in an industry with notoriously high turnover rates.

Coffee culture may even lend itself to a culture of acceptance. Coffee shops are often times full of creative types and art-focused folks, who are predisposed to curiosity, according to Moscato.

“Obviously, coffee comes from all different countries across the world, that there’s

something if you’re diving into coffee you have to have a curiosity of other cultures,” Moscato said. “That creates an openness when you have a just general curiosity about things.”

Curiosity, unsurprisingly, is a common theme at Curiosity Coffee Bar. This extends itself into special events that bring in outside groups to share art, games, trivia and food.

“The Black Nerd Mafia events that we do constantly throughout the month often are highlighting queer and feminine and LGBTQ artists within the city that, I think, have less of an opportunity to voice their art,” Slattery said.

The space serves as a conduit for exploration in any form. Partnerships with groups like the Black Nerd Mafia and Columbia area food trucks allow Curiosity Coffee Bar to extend past coffee.

“There has to be some way to pay the bills, at the end,” Slattery said. “For us, this is kind of a journey … finding ways to emphasize important cultural and historical moments through food and beverage as a way to remind us and to encourage us to explore beyond just what we grew up knowing.”

Richie Holmberg

A few of the stickers sold at Curiosity Coffee Bar in Columbia, S.C. A cute and colorful collection of merchandise can be found inside the cafe, including Pride-inspired stickers, greeting cards and more.

Photos: Lucky Jones

A rainbow, LGBTQIA+ inspired Christmas tree stands out amongst the coffee merchandise and red brick architecture. The quirky yet comfortable atmosphere is just another one of the charms at Curiosity Coffee Bar.

The LGBTQIA+ community continues decades-long fight for rights in South Carolina

Emmy ribero, Caitlin dee & sophie wurster

South Carolina has come a long way in terms of being more politically accepting of the LGBTQIA+ community. Nekki Shutt, an attorney who helped legalize same-sex marriage in the state, said she remembers worrying about her safety at a pride march in the 1980s.

“I think we’ve made great strides,” Shutt said. “I did the press packets for the first Pride March. That we did. And it was a scary time to be out in South Carolina.”

While much progress has been made, the battle is still being fought. This summer’s Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade has some legal professionals questioning if the Supreme Court will try to overturn Obergefell v. Hodges, the landmark Supreme Court case that legalized same-sex marriage on a federal level.

“If Roe v. Wade can fall, then Obergefell can fall, and I’m so afraid of that. The U.S. Supreme Court has taken a 180-degree turn — it’s all political,” Malissa Burnett, a partner at Burnette, Shutt and McDaniel law firm said.

While these national protections from Roe and Obergefell are being challenged, the Supreme Court case ruling of Bostock v. Clayton County offers some immunity.

Bostock v. Clayton County was a court decision in 2020 that interpreted the word sex to include sexual orientation and gender identities to add protections against discrimination in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, said Shutt.

Although the Bostock decision protected the LGBTQIA+ community and their experience in the workplace, there were also laws in place that negatively affected the private lives of these individuals.

Sodomy laws in South Carolina were some of the most severe in the nation, according to Ed Madden, professor of English and women’s and gender studies. The laws were specifically called “buggery,” which was applied to both straight and homosexual couples, but had specific targets to the LGBTQIA+ community as it applied to oral and anal sex.

“(South Carolina) was the last state in the nation to remove the death penalty for sodomy. That was in 1869. We then revised our sodomy laws, so that it was a sentence of five years or $500,” Madden said. “So other states have had the judge could offer leniency. If you were convicted here, there was no leniency.”

South Carolina has progressed in some aspects such as the removal of the bathroom bill. Bathroom bills are legislation that prohibits transgender individuals from using the bathroom that aligns with their gender identity. South Carolina was able to strike down its bathroom bill after seeing a lot of businesses pulling out of economic affairs in North Carolina, according to Shutt.

This year, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster signed a bill that excludes transgender youth from sports.

“They have stigmatized an entire group of people — an entire group of children, who are sometimes already struggling — and there’s no reason to have done this other than to stigmatize trans people in general,” Madden said.

At USC, the athletic department focuses on inclusion, particularly with transgender individuals.

“I would applaud our athletics department because they are advocates,” Julian Williams, vice president of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, said. “That makes me

An LGBTQIA+ flag sits alongside a U.S. flag in a vendor’s truck window during the Outfest festival on June 4, 2022, on Park Street in Columbia, S.C. Outfest featured performances, food and vendors in honor of Pride month.

proud as a university employee, that our department that our athletics department is taking those proactive steps, because we know that athletics brings people together in so many ways.”

The university has also been fighting for the equality of the LGBTQIA+ community but acknowledges that more work is to be done on its end to keep uplifting this group.

“I think that the issues that we’re seeing around the LGBTQ+ community really mirror a lot of the larger social issues that South Carolina has struggled with,” Williams said.

While progress regarding protections for the LGBTQIA+ community has not always been linear in South Carolina, the community continued to fight until their rights were guaranteed.

“I’ve always said that you can’t count on your rights, you have to defend them continuously,” Burnette said.

Photos: sydney dunlap

An Outfest attendee laughs as a dance circle breaks out on Park Street on June 4, 2022. Outfest featured performances, food and vendors in honor of Pride month.

Student Government trailblazers paved way for current generation of gay Gamecocks

amanda petty

Noah Glasgow made history when he became the first openly gay man to be sworn in as speaker of the student senate last spring.

Despite feeling like the U.S. has a long way to go towards accepting the LGBTQIA+ community, Glasgow has never felt that anybody voted for him because of his identity. He said that the Carolina community has always been welcoming and embracing.

“I’ve never felt unsafe. I’ve never felt like I’ve been discriminated against on campus. I’ve never felt like I’ve needed to hide my identity,” Glasgow said. “The university has always been very welcoming — at least to queer folks.”

This is not the first time that a Student Government executive has been a part of the LGBTQIA+ community. Zachery Scott was elected in 2004 as the first openly gay student body president.

Scott had been out to friends and family since his senior year of high school. Much like Glasgow, Scott said he felt like the student body and the university were welcoming of him. Despite a couple of fringe elements that caused trouble, everyone was accepting of his sexuality.

“Demographically, you would think that they would be opposed to an openly gay representative, and they weren’t,” Scott said. “They saw me for me, and I was very appreciative of it, and we advocated for protections for all students. And that was a message that resonated then as much as I think it does today.”

During his time in Student Government, Scott prioritized protecting staff and students that were part of the LGBTQIA+

community so they could not be fired or denied housing because of how they identified.

“For the time, that was the insurmountable goal ... That was the end all, be all,” Scott said.

Scott said the sexual orientation protections policy took a long time to enact but was passed in 2003 when Scott was vice president. The policy ensured that the university and the community can have greater protections and an understanding of what can be possible to accomplish.

Glasgow is following in Scott’s footsteps by building upon that foundation. His office is currently working on enacting the It’s On Us initiative to combat interpersonal violence at USC and expand the knowledge of LGBTQIA+ resources on campus.

“We’re trying to look specifically for queer resources. If you are a victim of — or a survivor, rather — of interpersonal violence, we’re looking at how we can look at the disparities that exist between racial reporting when it comes to interpersonal violence and how we can bridge that divide,” Glasgow said.

The purpose of this initiative is to remedy the underreporting of interpersonal violence among women, men, the LGBTQIA+ community and heterosexual people alike. Glasgow said the initiative wants to help those who need to report to feel safe, comfortable and supported.

Student Body Vice President Maia Porzio said she works closely with Glasgow by sharing an office, collaborating on projects and learning from each other.

“Being able to work with (Glasgow) has been amazing ... he represents the community amazingly,” Porzio said. “It’s really cool to see the way that he advocates for all students on our campus in his position.”

Because of this advocacy and work, Glasgow joins other trailblazers, like Scott, in advancing representation of the LGTBQIA+ community and paving the road for others by being the first.

“All of us, myself included, really came behind some real trailblazers,” Scott said. “The path that (Glasgow) is paving for other

generations, where this isn’t even an issue at some point, it’s a huge milestone, a great accomplishment for him.”

Glasgow and the rest of the student senate are working toward helping the LGBTQIA+ community feel more accepted on campus through initiatives like the It’s On Us campaign.

“Times have changed since 2004, 2005,” Glasgow said. “All three execs are firmly committed to the work of diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility.”

Glasgow, and the rest of Student Government, are building upon the foundation that Scott laid out, by introducing new LGTBQIA+ initiatives, like the selfexpression closet for LGBTQIA+ individuals to express themselves with clothing of their choice, that would have been unthinkable at a time when it took a long time to pass the sexual orientations policy.

“For so long, we were told that who we were was shameful,” Scott said. “So, what did we do? We didn’t go away. We just created our own culture ... we have built a culture to protect ourselves and it’s beautiful.

Since his time at USC, Scott was executive director of the Los Angeles Gay Lesbian Chamber of Commerce and was a part of the Peace Corps in Mozambique for three years. Now, Scott lives with his husband in Los Angeles and is the executive director of A Window Between Worlds, which is a nonprofit dedicated to empowering those impacted by trauma through a healing arts program. Through all of this, he still carries his experience at USC with him.

“I wish I was able to come back more often — go to games and visit the campus — but I will always speak fondly of my time at the University of South Carolina. And I’m incredibly proud to be a Gamecock,” Scott said. “When I hear stories about Noah, when I hear stories about how the students keep the issue of equality and inclusion going, it brings me great joy to know that that legacy is being passed on by this new generation.”

Noah glasgow, speaker of the student senate

Photo courtesy of noah glasgow

REMEMBERING INTERSECTIONALITY

IS PARAMOUNT TO BEING A GOOD ALLY

Julia Goulet

Students need to learn how to factor intersectionality into their life and be good allies to the LGBTQIA+ community.

The term intersectionality was coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw, a lawyer and leading advocate for critical race theory. It states that everyone will have a different life experience because of their separate identities or “intersections,” like race, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, class, culture and ability, to name a few.

It started with a Black woman not getting a job because of her race and gender. While the company had both women and Black people, the women were white and the men were Black.

While intersectionality is important for everyone and good to think about in terms of the LBGTQIA+ community, we should remember the term was created by Black women for Black women.

“Intersectionality was coined for Black women,” Shay Malone, USC’s director of multicultural student affairs, said. “It was about when you think about how women are marginalized in the world, you think about how worse it is for a Black woman.”

Everyone is different. The way you look and your identity has a major effect on how life will treat you. To think about intersectionality and understand that all of our intersections work together is important.

“What intersectionality does is to help us think our way through how those categories operate together,”

said Stephanie Mitchem, the interim chair of the women and gender studies department and a professor in the religious studies department.

“We’re not one thing at one time of the day and then one thing at another

One way of fighting is to be an ally if you aren’t BIPOC, which stands for bi, indigenous people of color, or don’t identify as part of the LGBTQIA+ community. You can be an ally by being there and supporting

“I’ve had a lot of friends who have either been closeted or not supported by their families,” Julie Turner, a member of Free Mom Hugs, said. “There’s too much of that. I would say it’s more important than ever for people to step up wherever they are and support the LGBTQ community.”

Being an ally isn’t just saying you’re an ally. It’s about action. Whether that’s helping someone in need or going to a protest, allyship is a verb, lone said, not a noun.

“Being an ally means advocating and supporting marginalized identities,”

Something else that has come out of the term intersectionality is an intersectional feminist. You can’t be a feminist without thinking about intersectionality.

For a long time in the feminist movement, anyone who wasn’t a white, heterosexual, cisgender, middle-class, non-disabled woman was shut out. This especially can be seen in the suffrage movement.

Feminism is about fighting for equality, we aren’t an equal society unless everyone is seen as equal and treated as so.

There are many ways to be advocates for the LBGTQIA+ community and take some action. From speaking up in conversations with friends and family to going out to the world and fighting for the rights of others. It’s important to bring allyship into every part of your life.

Conversations with people who look different from you or have lived drastically different life are very important to understand the world and people in a different life. Understanding the importance of intersectionality and applying it to your life is important in being an ally to the LBGTQIA+ community and other marginalized groups.

Illustration: Julia Lako

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Q&A: USC professor offers perspective of LGBTQIA+ community, promotes transparency with students

USC English professor Raven Gadsden was marked down during a previous teaching internship because her instructor saw her then-girlfriend walking with Gadsden into the school.

“I wish that she had spoken to me. What she did was she wrote it up, and then she sent it to the mentor before I even had a chance to see it. And so, I felt very blindsided,” Gadsden said. “It made me feel yucky on the inside.”

The Daily Gamecock spoke with Gadsden about how she became more open as a bisexual woman and how she has impacted her students in the classroom by offering the perspective of someone who is Black and identifies with the LGBTQIA+ community.

How did you become more comfortable with your sexuality?

Gadsden: “(I started) building a small little tribe of students, and they ended up starting a club, which ended up being the LGBT club at the high school, and I ended up being their advisor … I realized in that year that I was teaching with those students how much of an influence I had, because I was the first — for a lot of them — gay teacher that they had, male, female or otherwise.”

“And so that kind of put me in a position where it was, ‘If this is who I am, I need to kind of be who I am because I don’t know what kind of experience my students are going to end up having.’”

“So, in the short time that I was at that high school, I had a couple of students came out, I had one student who was transgender and like, started to, I guess, become more comfortable in his process.”

“I had a big impact on those students, especially if they identified anywhere on the spectrum. And I recognize that and so that’s really kind of what made me a lot more comfortable with myself.”

How important is that student-teacher relationship?

Gadsden: “I think that that is extremely important. I think, no matter what, like background, a teacher comes from, they have a lot that they can offer their students. And I think sometimes the professors that we encounter, if they haven’t been trained as educators … you don’t realize you can still make those connections in the classroom, and you can still offer whatever it is you have to offer.”

“So outside of my sexuality, I am also a woman, so I also offer that perspective. I’m a person of color, so I also offer that perspective.”

“When I was teaching at Winthrop — and everywhere I go too — if I have Black students in the class, I noticed that even

if they’re struggling, even if they don’t get the concept, they might show up to class the entire semester. They might fail the class by the end of it, but they show up, and they show up because they see somebody like them who is comfortable being themself.”

How does it feel to be that person who can provide support in that way?

Gadsden: “It feels good, but I recognize that I have limits. And so if anytime over the years students have shared things with me that I felt like I couldn’t handle, I always either referred them out or I tried to get them some kind of service outside of myself.”

“Recognizing that I can’t fix everything has also been a really big help to my students, because I’ll tell them, ‘I can’t help you with that.’ And they appreciate the honesty.”

“So I recognize, you lie to a student you tell them, ‘Okay, I’m going to do this, this date,’ you’re in the same category as other people in their life — over the course of their life — who have not kept their word. So I try to, as an educator, in anything that I’m doing, to keep my word.”

Should USC offer more classes that center around LGBTQIA+ themes or topics?

Gadsden: “I think that that’s probably a good idea, there’s room, and I know within the first-year English for professors to design courses, themed courses, around whatever theme they want.”

“I know in history classes, I would love to have taken a history class that was from the perspective of LGBT because a lot of the things that I learned I had to learn on my own.”

“I didn’t learn them from school, like in terms of some of the riots like the (Stonewall Riots) and some of these people who were key — not just key figures in terms of like pop culture or terms of drag icons or whatever the case is — but key people who ended up changing laws and legislation. And we don’t get taught that in school because they were gay, because they were LGBT.”

Kate Robins

Photo: Madison Chiang

Raven Gadsden

Gamecocks find parallels between identity, environment

jack bingham

Sexuality and the environment may seem unrelated at first, but Alex Anderson, a member of USC’s gardening club, relates both to cultural inequalities.

“(Environmentalism and LGBTQIA+ issues) tend to naturally go together,” Anderson, a second-year arts education student, said. “The society that we live in both doesn’t value our environment and doesn’t value LGBTQ+ people.”

Access to food can contribute to this inequality. Much of the Midlands are considered to be food deserts, or areas without ready access to fresh foods or grocery stores, according to the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC).

Anderson said gardening could be a tool to combat a lack of produce in stores.

“Seeds at Walmart are not that expensive, you know,” Anderson said. “If oppressed people control their access to food, that’s just one more thing that props us up.”

Similarly to growing healthy food when none is made available, coming into one’s own sexual or gender identity is an “act of rebellion,” Anderson said.

“Queer people live that truth and then work together to create power for ourselves, instead of, not even stealing it from the people in power,” Anderson said. “We are capable of creating our own power.”

What that power looks like, though, can be tricky to define. Queer environmental issues exist against the backdrop of intersectional environmentalism as a whole, an area of interest for USC philosophy department chair Matt Kisner.

Intersectional movements, he said, focus on a wide range of people, including those of different races, sexualities and socioeconomic statuses. For example, establishing a garden, although perhaps empowering, requires more than seeds — it requires space, time and physical ability.

“You see how there are certain kinds of common structures or patterns that overlap between issues,” Kisner said. “Intersectionality is about studying those similarities and structural connections.”

One example of an environmentally intersectional issue is a communities’ location relative to toxic waste.

Nationwide, communities near toxic waste dumping and storage facilities are comprised of roughly 45% people of color. However, people of color make up less than 30% of communities that are distanced from such waste facilities.

This issue is intersectional, Kisner said. It affects many types of people — Black, Latino and immigrant communities. Understanding and solving these disparities requires bringing these stakeholders to the table, Kisner said.

“You need to have the people who are affected by these harms, and they need to be represented, they need to be part of the people who are speaking out about the experiences that they’re having,” Kisner said.

It can be difficult to involve individuals from oppressed communities in these discussions, though. Those who are economically unable to move out of a flood zone, for example,

have more immediate concerns than legislation, Kisner said.

“It’s hard in any community to get people involved in that kind of civic participation, but it’s particularly demanding on people who are working multiple jobs and are struggling with childcare issues,” Kisner said.

It’s also more difficult to address LGBTQIA+ concerns via community involvement because of geographic distribution. Because so many marginalized communities are centered around toxic waste disposal sites, they’re affected “disproportionately,” Kisner said. “But the LGBTQ population isn’t … centralized in quite the same way.”

Anderson said that these hazards are similar in effect to hazards faced by the LGBTQIA+ community.

“When people are destroying the planet for profit … it takes away people’s opportunity, and so I feel like because of how impacted LGBTQ people are by our prejudiced society, that is definitely a way that LGBTQ and environmentalism overlap,” Anderson said.

Jory Fleming, an adjunct faculty member in the geography department, explored these overlaps in a class through a collection of poems by Brian Teare called “Doomstead Days.”

“(Teare) went out and walked basically in different locations … He combined his own experience directly in nature with his experiences from both as a gay man, and he also interacts with chronic illnesses,” Fleming said.

Fleming said he uses this poetry to showcase the power of people’s unique perspectives on the environment. He considers these perspectives a type of data, alongside traditional scientific data like the United Nations’ climate change report. He talks about individual power in a similar way to Anderson.

“There’s just as much power in somebody saying ‘Oh, my garden which I’ve cared for all my life is changing ... These are just as valid of ways of understanding and acknowledging climate change as an IPCC report that uses a climate model,” Fleming said.

illustration: caroline torrone