testing

Save the date: Saturday, March 2 at 6:30! 

If you need assistance with ticket purchases, please see the event page on our site

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

February is a time for love, celebrating Black history, and winter (for some). The Rainbow Center would like to highlight two upcoming dates: The AACC Black History Month Opening Ceremony showcasing Professor/Author/Activist Dr. Cornel West on Thursday, February 2, 2023 at 7 pm @McHugh Hall RM 102 and; National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day which falls on February 7th. This day is delegated to increasing HIV education, testing, treatment, and involvement in African-American communities. 1 in every 5 people are estimated to be HIV positive in the United States (CDC 6.27.22). Testing has dropped amongst the population since the COVID Pandemic. With your privacy at the top of our concern, The Rainbow Center will be holding two discrete HIV Testing Clinics at the Center on February 8, 2023 from 9:30-1:15 and on February 27, 2023 from 3:30-7pm. Keep yourself and the community safe, get tested.  

Oct 2 Fall Campus Visit Days RC Open House, 11:30am-1:30pm, RC
Oct 6 Gender Affirming Closet, 12-2pm, RC
Oct 7 Queer UConn Employees hosts Rainbow Eats
Oct 7 International Lesbian Day Tabling, 11am-2pm, Student Union Way
Oct 11 National Coming Out Day, Scrapbooking Your Life as a Movie, 5:30-7:30pm, RC
Oct 12 HIV & HEP C Rapid Testing, 10am-1pm, RC
Oct 15 Fall Campus Visit Days RC Open House, 11:30am-1:30pm, RC
Oct 15 Cosponsor Fortune Feimster – Hey Y’all, Jorgensen Theater
Oct 19 LGBTQIA+ Center Awareness Day Tabling, 11am-2pm, Student Union Way
Oct 20 Out to Lunch Lecture Series (OTL) – “Sex without Sin: A Qualitative Study of the Impact of Stigma on the Sexual Health and Substance Use Outcomes of Internet-based Cisgender Male Sex Workers Who Have Sex with Men,” presented by Alberto Cifuentes, Jr., LMSW
Oct 20 International Pronouns Day
Oct 22 UConn Family Weekend (Chosen) Family Food and Crafting by FAMILEE mentoring program, 2-4pm, RC
Oct 23 Start of Asexual Awareness Week
Oct 24 HIV & HEP C Rapid Testing, 4-7pm, RC
Oct 25, Intersex Awareness Day
Oct 26 Platonic Stargazing, 5:30pm meetup with 6pm event @ Great Lawn
Oct 27 * Canceled: Out to Lunch Lecture Series (OTL) – “Transgender Healthcare Equity: Current Barriers to Transgender Healthcare in the USA,” presented by Christy Anderson, MD
Oct 27 RC Annual Art Gala, 5:30pm, RC
Oct 27 Alumni Happy Hour, 6:30-8:30pm (details on location TBD) Updated to Nov. 3, 6:30-8:30pm @ Labyrinth Brewing Company, Manchester,CT Click here for the Registration Page 

Oct. 28 Spooky Night Social, 5:30-7:30pm, RC
Oct 31 Trick or Treat at the Union with the Rainbow Center, 11am-2pm, RC

Are you a first year/second year or sophomore student?  Join the FAMILEE mentoring program to be matched with a mentor!  Find out more information here.

 

Happy PRIDE!

The Rainbow Center would like to wish UConn students, staff, and faculty a happy PRIDE month!  Our GA, Sarah Abbey, compiled a list of educational resources, videos, and podcasts all about Pride and LGBTQIA+ history for you to enjoy.  Sarah also included links to Pride events going on throughout the state of Connecticut.  

Join us for a Faculty And Staff Pride Coffee Hour on Tuesday, June 7th, 2022 from 8:30 AM – 10:30 AM in the Rainbow Center lounge, SU 403.  Hope to see you there! 

Greetings from the Rainbow Center,

I’m excited to announce that the Rainbow Center has officially hired Chris Richard (they/them/their) as the new Rainbow Center Coordinator!  Their start date is Friday, December 3, 2021!  Take a look at our staff page that has been updated with Chris’ photo and information!

The Rainbow Center would like to extend a special thank you to all the members of the search committee, and to Angela Rola for serving as the chair.

Chris is a Black non-binary educator, writer, advocate, and coach with a passion for holistic wellness. They began their career in higher education, serving for 10 years focusing on counseling and student development, with an emphasis on supporting first-generation students of color as they enter and navigate the academy. Chris served as a Residence Director at Westfield State University and Central Connecticut State University, assisting students towards building equitable and just campus communities that prioritized social justice and individual development. 

Chris was formerly the Talent and Training Manager at Re-Center, whose mission is to activate youth and adults to drive transformative change towards racially just schools and communities in Connecticut. Chris received their masters in counselor education and a bachelors in English from Central Connecticut State University.

They were inspired to join the University of Connecticut’s Rainbow Center team due to a passion for creating and supporting academic systems that function as not only inclusive environments, but spaces that can meet the needs and honor the lived experience of all students. Chris takes the words of James Baldwin to heart, believing that “Not everything that is faced can be changed; but nothing can be changed until it is faced”, and uses these words as motivation for the critical social-justice work that remains to be done within communities.

Sincerely,

Kelsey O’Neil
Director

 

 

Dear UConn students, staff, and faculty,

I am writing to you today to update you that this past month there were two separate reported bias incidents targeting the LGBTQIA+ community on UConn’s campus.

On March 16, an RA in Alumni Hall found images drawn on a dry-erase board in the lounge space. These images referenced the LGBTQIA+ community in a disparaging manner. The Residential Life staff communicated with and offered support to the complainant and other identified witnesses as well as wrote a community response which can be found here.

On March 20, it was reported that around 6:30pm a person in a car driving on North Eagleville Road yelled a derogatory term out the vehicle window.  The Dean of Students Office and the Rainbow Center have reached out to the students targeted and offered support.

I would like to thank all of the individuals who reported the above bias incidents.  University administration is following the bias response protocol. This protocol is designed to assure that there are designated places to report incidents and identify potential interventions to remedy harm done.

These acts of hate against the LGBTQIA+ community do not align with the University of Connecticut’s core values or the mission and values of the Office for Diversity and Inclusion and the Rainbow Center.  LGBTQIA+ individuals comprise UConn’s students, staff, and faculty and are to be celebrated and affirmed as integral members of our global and diverse campus community.

The Office for Diversity and Inclusion and the Rainbow Center want to ensure that those affected by these particular bias incidents receive appropriate support.  Below is a list of different resources available to students, staff, and faculty.  Additionally, the Rainbow Center has designated 1:1 meetings hours held this Wednesday, March 31, and Friday, April 2, for anyone who would like to meet with Kelsey O’Neil to discuss this matter.   Please email the Rainbow Center at rainbowcenter@uconn.edu to reserve your space.   Furthermore, anyone wanting to learn more about queer theory/scholarship can also access the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Department website.

A list of resources to consult:

• InForm
• Office for Diversity and Inclusion
• Academic Institutes
• African American Cultural Center
• Asian American Cultural Center
• Puerto Rican/Latin American Cultural Center
• Rainbow Center
• Women’s Center
• Queer BIPOC Faculty and Staff Affinity Group
• Queer UConn Employees Affinity Group
• Dean of Students
• Office of Institutional Equity

Sincerely,

Kelsey O’Neil, Director, Rainbow Center

Dr. Frank Tuitt, Vice President/Chief Diversity Officer

For the past several semesters, the Assistant Deans at the Dean of Students Office would have drop-in hours at the various cultural centers.  Due to the pandemic, those in-person drop-in sessions have come to a halt.  In response, the Assistant Deans of DOS have prepared a short 7-minute video that details their passion for their work, the Office’s role at the university, and how the Office can help you as a student at UConn.

Meet Paula Wilmot, Luz Burgos-López, and Kim Duby at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwn2SF-KTTc