NIU Today

NIU’s Gender & Sexuality Resource Center (GSRC) has planned several events in celebration of 2016 LGBTQIA Awareness Month. Unless noted, all events are free and open to the public. The GSRC is located at 105 Normal Road, in the Arndt house. For more information, or to request accommodations, call (815) 753-GSRC (4772). Transgender Day of...

The Neptune Hall Council will present “Colors of the Rainbow” at 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 30, in Room 102 of Neptune Central. A panel discussion and Q-and-A is planned on LGBTQIA+ topics. Other activities include bracelet making, a documentary screening and a presentation on safe sex. Speakers are from the NIU Ally Program, the Center...

J Mase III, a black/trans/queer poet based in New York City, will visit the NIU campus to deliver a spoken word performance at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 18, in the Cavan Auditorium of Gabel Hall. As an educator, he has worked with thousands of community members in the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada...

NIU’s Gender & Sexuality Resource Center is planning several events in October to celebrate LGBTQIA History Month. For more information about any event, call (815) 753-4772 or email gsrc@niu.edu. Whose Story? The Impact of Privilege in Queer History Wednesday, Oct. 7 Join the GSRC and special guests to discuss what is known about the modern...

NIU’s 21st annual Pride Dinner is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Friday, April 24, in the Capitol Room of the Holmes Student Center. Doors open at 6 p.m. Attire is business professional/casual. The dinner banquet serves as an end-of-the-year celebration and features the presentation of the Eychaner Award along with several other awards and recognitions. Eychaner...

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, non-heterosexual and gender non-conforming identifying graduates completing their NIU education in December 2013, May 2014 or August 2014 will be honored Thursday, May 8, at the fifth annual Lavender Graduation. The ceremony is free to students and guests. Semi-formal dress is requested. The ceremony’s goal is to celebrate the graduates...

According to the American Psychological Association, people who identify as LGBT utilize mental health services more than their heterosexual counterparts. They also experience depression, anxiety, substance abuse and suicidality at disproportionate rates, and are more likely to be homeless, suffer abuse and experience feelings of loneliness. Forty-two percent of LGBT youth say their communities are...

NIU’s LGBT and Women’s Resource Center will host athlete and activist Kye Allums at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 15, as a featured presenter for LGBTQ Awareness Month. He will speak in the Duke Ellington Ballroom of the Holmes Student Center. Allums attended George Washington University with an athletic scholarship to play basketball. In his sophomore year,...

Maybe it was a roommate who stood up for a member of the LGBT community. Maybe it was a faculty member who incorporated LGBT topics in his or her class. The NIU LGBT & Women’s Resource Center is gearing up for the 10th annual Ally Awards ceremony, scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 9, in...

“Who’s the Fool? Gay and Lesbian Representation in ‘Will & Grace’ and ‘Rosanne’ ” will kick off this spring’s Third Thursday Speaker Series, sponsored by the LGBT Studies Program. Each academic year, the LGBT Studies Program sponsors a series of brown-bag lunch presentations featuring LGBT research or scholarship by NIU faculty members or graduate students. All...

NIU’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Resource Center has a new address. Staff spent Thursday moving to the center’s new digs at 105 Normal Road – the building known at the Women’s Resource Center – and will officially open the doors Monday. Throughout the spring semester, the department will operate under the working name of “LGBT...

NIU’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences External Programming will offer Gay/Straight Alliance: LGBTQA Leadership and Activism, a new summer camp for students entering grades 9 through 12. Scheduled from Sunday, July 7, through Friday, July 12, the camp represents an opportunity for lesbian-, gay-, bisexual-, transgender-, queer-, questioning- and ally-identified high school students who...