Shippensburg University’s Pride and Gender Equity (PAGE) Center held an LGBTQ 101 crash course along with a beauty raffle at in the Ceddia Union Building on Nov. 13.

The goal of the event was to inform attendees of the basic language everyone can use in order to respect and support the LGBTQ-identifying people in their lives. Around 30 people attended the event, offering diverse opinions and personal experiences to the conversation. 

The faculty and students who ran the event prioritized a safe and respectful space for everyone in the room. “We want to talk about things from our experience,” Miller Hoffman, Director of the PAGE Center, said. “We’re thinking about a lot of people.” 

They began the conversation by informing attendees of the resources the PAGE Center has to offer students, including access to free contraceptives and a gender-neutral closet, describing the center as a “body-positive, sex-positive and anti-violence space.”

As a part of their conversation on LGBTQ 101, they informed attendees of basic definitions within sexuality and gender, also offering exercises people could participate in to gain a better understanding.

One of these exercises involved attendees viewing a list of questions those in the LGBTQ community tend to get asked that those who do not identify as a part of the community are normally not pressured to answer. Many people felt uncomfortable viewing these questions, opening the door for discussion and understanding. 

“I think it’s generally uncomfortable to be asked questions phrased like those,” one audience member said. 

The goal of these exercises was to increase understanding of what are and what are not respectful ways to talk to LGBTQ-identifying individuals. “I feel like we are always talking about folks and not always thinking about how we are talking about folks,” Hoffman said. 

Many other topics were also discussed during the conversation, including the differences between gender and biology, respectful words, phrasing and etiquette everyone can use in order to ensure they are being respectful and inclusive of everyone’s sexualities and gender identities. 

As the conversation came to an end, the PAGE Center switched their focus to the beauty raffle they held at the event, giving audience members the chance to win makeup and cosmetics from brands such as Charlotte Tilbury, Fenty Beauty, Haus Labs and MAC Cosmetics. 

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