This past weekend, Binghamton University’s Rainbow Pride Union (RPU) sponsored the 22nd annual Northeast LGBT Conference to explore topics related to this year’s theme, Black Queer Lives Matter.
Approximately 150 students from college campuses across the Northeast, including the University at Albany and University of New England, attended the conference to listen to keynote speakers and attend workshops regarding the marginalization of groups within the LGBTQ community.
The keynote speakers included Maurice Tomlinson, a leading LGBTQ rights and HIV activist; CeCe McDonald, a bi-trans woman and LGBTQ activist; Joshua Allen, a black transgender-feminine organizer; and BU President Harvey Stenger, all of whom spoke in Old Union Hall in the Old University Union. The five-hour long workshops consisted of themes including anti-blackness within the queer community, sexual racism and inclusivity, and were held in classrooms throughout University Union.
Brandon Bocanumenth, a junior double-majoring in psychology and women, gender and sexuality studies, is currently the marketing assistant for RPU and helped organize the weekend event along with Joseph Simon, the co-chairman of the conference and a senior majoring in integrative neuroscience. Bocanumenth explained that the current political climate played a large role in selecting this year’s theme.
“We sent in our submission for the conference in a time when the political climate was not too well and it was kind of apparent that [black queers] are a marginalized group within our own marginalized group,” Bocanumenth said. “These are problems that are happening under the surface; no one really mentions them, so we wanted to bring those to life and actually talk about them.”
Bocanumenth explained that each year the conference pushes to make the event as intersectional as possible, acknowledging that social characterizations such as race, class and gender are often interrelated. The theme differs from previous years because it focuses on accepting marginalized members within the LGBTQ community, such as black queer individuals. This year, topics discussed included mental health, safe sex, sexual racism and transgender awareness.
On Saturday afternoon, McDonald and Allen spoke about the importance of understanding the lives of black, transgender and queer people throughout the world. As a victim of a transphobic hate crime in 2012, McDonald spoke against transgender violence in the LGBTQ and black community.
“We cannot think about liberation, we cannot think about unity, we cannot think about equality when we have a marginalized people constantly fighting each other,” McDonald said. “How can I, as a revolutionary, just sit back and see myself and the people that I love constantly live in poverty, turmoil and violence?”
Allen elaborated on McDonald’s ideas, stating that this conference allowed people that are queer, transgender or gender-nonconforming to come together, speak about their lives and learn from each other. He said that his current work was initially rooted in a need for change.
“I grew to love community organizing because it really creates a radical space for us to lift and help each other,” Allen said. “I think community organizing is nothing more than righting a wrong, and that is what I do as an activist.”
Students from different universities took the opportunity to network with each other and discuss how, through grass-roots efforts, they could become agents of change within their own communities.
Sarah Voegler, an undeclared freshman at BU, attended the conference and said that because the theme was Black Queer Lives Matter, it fostered a discussion about marginalized groups within the LGBTQ community. Voegler also stated that teaching people about the LGBTQ community could help combat bias and discrimination.
“I really think that hate is the reason that we are still so far behind in terms of acceptance,” Voegler said. “We need to show the world that we are here to stay and we are all together.”