Hey queers and friends,
What a great first week back! We really appreciated the enthusiastic response to our first few events, especially the big turn-out at the Queer Space Party – we hope you all had as much fun as we did putting it on. For those of you who couldn’t make it, we used the party as an opportunity to announce the appointment of a new Queer Officer, Quinn Hogan. Congratulations Quinn! We also shared a bit about our plans for the upcoming semester, which include the return of popular events like Queery, the introduction of new events like Self-Defense Classes and friendly meet-ups for people who are new to the Queer Department, and of course the end-of-semester camp we’ve been talking about. All of that is still to come – in the mean time, we have an exciting week that will include another screening of the anime Hourou Musuko, a much-anticipated Queery on the topic of gay marriage, and another Lunch with the Queer Bunch. Hopefully we’ll see you there!
Hourou Musuko Screenings (Episodes 1-4)
When: Monday 30th July, 12 – 2 P.M.
Where: Senior Theatre, Chemistry Building
What: This semester the Queer Department is co-sponsoring screenings of an anime called Hourou Musuko (English title: Wandering Son), organised by the Melbourne Uni Anime Club. Hourou Musuko is a 12-episode series which aired in Japan in 2011, and is based on a manga that’s been running since 2002. The series’ two central characters both identify as trans, and it’s been hailed as a particularly respectful and insightful examination of issues around gender identity.
Each week, the Anime Club will be showing two episodes in a one hour block, with the screenings concluding in Week 6. However, as not everyone could make it to the initial screening in Week 1, they’ve kindly agreed to re-air the first two episodes between 12 and 1 P.M. this coming Monday. Episodes 3 and 4 will screen between 1 and 2 P.M., with an additional two episodes showing each Monday in the same 1-2 P.M. time slot after that. If you’re joining us this week, make sure to arrive in the Senior Theatre by 12.15 P.M. at the latest, because that’s when we’ll be pressing play!
Note: The Senior Theatre is room 370 of the Chemistry Building, located on the west side of level 3. The Chemistry Building is just east across the court from the Old Quad, facing onto Monash Road. It’s G17 on the Parkville Campus Map: http://www.pcs.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0014/151052/Map_2012_rev29.pdf
Queery: Gay Marriage
When: Tuesday 31st July, 1 – 2 P.M.
Where: Queer Space, 3rd Floor, Union House
What: Come along to our first queery for this semester, where we’ll be talking about one of the most current and visible queer issues: Gay Marriage! Currently, the media would lead you to believe that the debates around gay marriage are pretty polemic, with the GLBT lobby and all the ‘good progressive allies’ on one side and the horrible conservative bigots on the other, but are there other, non-bigoted critiques of this campaign that are not being given air time? To spark off what will hopefully be a really interesting debate, we have Jessica Ison coming in to talk about her new upcoming book: ‘To The Exclusion of All Others’ – a collection of queer critiques and questions about the gay marriage campaign and the issues that go along with that. We’ve included a couple of links below for anyone who’s interested in further reading. We hope to see you all there!
http://www.makezine.enoughenough.org/Is%20Gay%20Marriage%20Racist.pdf
http://www.swlaw.edu/pdfs/lr/41_2kandaswamy.pdf
http://www.yasminnair.net/content/gay-marriage-hurts-my-breasts
http://gatheringforces.org/2010/01/08/queer-liberation-is-class-struggle/
Lunch with the Queer Bunch
When: Wednesday 1st August, 1-2 P.M.
Where: Queer Space, 3rd Floor, Union House
What: Lunch with the Queer Bunch is back for semester two! Come to the Queer Space from 12.45 P.M. (every Wednesday throughout semester, excluding the break) to grab a free lunch voucher from the Melbourne Uni Food Co-op, and join other queer, LGBTI or questioning students for an hour of food, fun, friends, frivolity, etc. It’s a great opportunity to relax between classes, make new friends, and catch up with old ones. Vouchers are available until 2 P.M., but get in early, because sometimes the Food Co-op runs out of its most popular food!
(Also, please remember not to leave dirty plates or food scraps in the Queer Space when you leave – it’s a communal space, which means it’s the responsibility of all of us to look after it. Thanks!)
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Posted Sunday 29 July, 2012. Updated Sunday 29 July, 2012.