On Friday, June 26, at 2:00pm, Bay Atlantic University held an online event to honor the Pride Month titled:
Since the modern LGBTQ+ movement started with the Stonewall Riots of 1969, the role of the LGBTQ+ community in supporting other groups in protesting has been an important one. As the last four years have shown, especially the last few weeks, these individuals have shown up and in great numbers to help support causes both related and unrelated to their community. However, what is the full scope of the role of members of the queer community in this process? How can we use our voices and abilities to best help other groups?
This panel explored this and also gave advice and insight on how the queer community is able to fight for both their equality and those of other groups.
Event Summary:
Cargill opened the panel by addressing several examples of LGBTQ+ activism in history. He then asked Simmons what does LGBTQ+ activism look like and mean to you. She responded using her personal examples which then the rest of the panelists elaborated on their own definitions and experiences.
To help gain more knowledge regarding the logistics of protesting, Aguirre was asked what elements go into the planning and executing of a protest. They responded with focus on what the cause is and who else involved in it.
Next, Dumlao was asked about the problems and mistakes LGBTQ+ protestors may make in the process. He reworded and refocused the question which covered the ideas of how to use social media and more. He then gave resources regarding the Asian American Racial Justice toolkit (see below).
Lastly, Arrieta was asked about the possible responsibilities’ LGBTQ+ people have in the present and future of protesting.
Panelists:
Sheridan Aguirre (they/them/theirs), United We Dream
They are the Arts + Culture Change Strategist at United We Dream, the largest undocumented youth led organization. They have been with the organization for 8 years: 4 years as a communications strategist and prior to that, 4 years as a member of the Austin youth-led team, coordinating pro-bono clinics to provide assistance for families applying for DACA and leading immigrant and queer justice campaigns. Born in Guerrero, Mexico, Sheridan immigrated with their mom at a year old and they have lived undocumented since 1996. They studied film production and screenwriting at the University of Texas; their passion for culture change is rooted in a deep love of performance and theatre-for-education, audience engagement, and authentic storytelling anchored in truth and a proactive vision for the future.
Daniel Arrieta (he/him/his), Activist
Daniel is a queer LatinX immigrant with more than twenty years of experience as a veteran production artist in the news industry. He is a public speaker and published author who speaks on and writes for national publications on issues of queer history, immigrant identity and their intersections with identity.
Michael Dumlao (he/him/his), Booz Allen Hamilton
Michael is an artist and performer who serves as the award-winning Director of Brand for Booz Allen Hamilton where he leads brand research, strategy and activation for this global leader in engineering, cyber, data science and management consulting. He chairs Booz Allen’s LGBTQ Forum “GLOBE+” where he designed the firm’s business resource group strategy, is a faculty member of The Institute for Federal Leadership in Diversity and Inclusion at Georgetown University, and is a national speaker on audacious authenticity in personal branding and advancing workplace diversity for organizations such as the Americans For The Arts and the National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance.
Crystal Simmons (she/her/hers), Booz Allen Hamilton
Crystal, in her role as the Cloud and Mobile lead for the Continuous Diagnostic Mitigation (CDM) Cyber Program mandated by congress -has led a team of Booz Allen Cyber engineers in protecting the nation’s data, improving the cyber security posture in the .gov environment to helping diverse candidates get into tech. For her government client she is providing pioneering Data security and design solutions to Cloud and Mobile assets. Subsequently, she serves as Co-Chair of GLOBE+ (LGBTQ) business resource group at Booz Allen where she is responsible for a myriad of diversity initiatives. She simultaneously, serves as the Queercon/DEFCON (Hacker Convention) Regional Rep. leading a team of Cyber SME’s in recruiting diverse candidates to the firm. While meeting her STEM professional day to day goals, she is also supporting Booz Allen by serving as the Chair for the African American Forum, Recruitment and Retention committee. In this role, she continues to successfully organizes recruiting events, workshops targeting diverse women and people of color for careers in STEM. In this capacity, she can hire top candidates directly to support Booz Allen.
Affiliations: Women in Cyber, Society of Women Engineers, GLOBE+, ANN, NSBE, Blacks in Tech. 0Stem, Out in Tech, Out and Equal. Human Rights Campaign.
Moderator:
Tyler Cargill (he/him/his), Director of Diversity and Inclusion at Bay Atlantic University.
Tyler is an an accomplished educator and award-winning researcher specializing in creating diverse and inclusionary spaces in international environments. He promotes discussion and exploration of the variety of diversity and inclusionary practices among different cultures throughout history. He is especially passionate about facilitating institutional change, encouraging dialogue between administration, staff and consumers, and building a culture of safety and well-being both in and out of Washington, D.C.
Resources:
Asian American Racial Justice Toolkit
- Social Media: Facebook,Twitter, and Instagram!
- Personal Stories of LGBTQ+ Undocumented individuals.
- Lush Guest Blog – Being Undocumented in COVID-19
- Story of Viktor, a nonbinary person and grocery store worker in Wyoming: Article Here
- Video of Catalina, a trans woman whose story (written and video) was shared with the Supreme Court as evidence in the fight to protect DACA: YouTube Link Here
- Video of Yazmin, a bisexual woman whose story (written and video) was shared with the Supreme Court as evidence in the fight to protect DACA: YouTube Link Here
