The University of Idaho LGBTQA Office will host a Queer People of Color Panel Discussion Thursday to highlight the challenges queer people of color face today.
The panelists for the event are Julien Arias, Lydia Flores, JayLynn Rogers and Teja Sunku. All four are UI students hoping to shed light on what life has been like as queer people of color, and offer a vision of hope.
Julia Keleher, the director for the LGBTQA Office, said she hopes people will come to the panel to be educated on an underrepresented community and their issues.
One such issue that is likely to be covered at the panel is how queer people of color are seen in today’s culture.
“Like with any community we can’t assume that one or two people can speak for their entire community,” Arias said. “But I think a large problem is POC queer folks deal with a lot of stigmatization. These events help give voices to us and also break stereotypes.”
Arias said this panel is also a chance for him and the other panelists to highlight how important it was finding their community.
“In my experience finding community and trying to create inclusive spaces for queer POC folk was very helpful,” Arias said. “I’m a part of a lot of LGBTQA+ related organizations and it’s been great having those spaces and I’ve had opportunities to bring attention to queer people of color in conversations. It helps to have a support network and folks to talk to.”
The panel will be held 7 p.m. in the Idaho Commons Aurora Room.
Hunter Diehl can be reached at [email protected].