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PROUD at OCAD U

PROUD_at_OCADU for webpage 2011.jpg

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Queer, Transgendered/Transsexual, Intersexed, Gender-queer, 2-Spirited, and Questioning.

We are here. We are students. We are faculty.
We are staff. We are alumni.

We are PROUD at OCAD U!

Supported by Campus Life, Diversity & Equity and OCADSU, "PROUD at
OCAD U" is a safe, inclusive and positive space within which to socialize, network, share and receive peer support, create, have fun, and celebrate our diverse identities. Straight allies welcome!

Stay In Touch:

Like us on Facebook!
Follow us on Twitter!
Contact us through our new group email!

If you wish to be kept informed about group activities, send an email with "PROUD at OCAD U" in the subject line to be added to our e-mail list.

(Personal information collected in connection with this initiative is kept private and will not be distributed).

PROUD ACTIVITIES

PROUD Drop-ins

Vote for a summer semester weekly PROUD Drop-In time before Friday, May 18!
Click here to vote: whenisgood.net/PROUDsummer2012

Watch for updates on summer activities here or online: www.facebook.com/proud.ocadu or www.facebook.com/groups/382766681744488/

A casual and intimate queer-positive space, PROUD Drop-ins give you the opportunity to connect with other members of OCAD U's LGBQTGI2Q community: make new friends; plan on- and off-campus projects and activities; talk about coming out; talk about relationships and safe sex; talk about anything at all! Light refreshments will be available.

Next event: TBA

PROUD UPDATES

May 4, 2012
2012 TORONTO DYKE MARCH

The Dyke March Team want to say hello and invite LGBTTIQQ2SA women and trans-people from PROUD at OCAD U to march with them in the 2012 Toronto Dyke March on Saturday, June 30, 2012.

The Dyke March is an important part of the Pride Toronto festival because it is one of the few spaces specifically for queer and questioning women and self-identified dykes. The March is both a demonstration of critical mass as well as a celebration of ALL types of dykes. Bring banners and signs with your unique messages, dress up (or dress down...), and shout, chant, roll, strut your way down Yonge Street with thousands of other dykes. Show Toronto how dyke-tastic we can be!

If you would like to be involved in organizing the march and its affiliated events, the team would love to meet you! You can be involved by liking their Facebook page, signing up for their newsletter, reading their blog, following them on Twitter, and telling others to do the same. Send an email to sign up to be a fabulous street team member (the street team helps with event coordination, postering, baking, photography, blog writing, and marshalling the March. The street team is a great way to meet other feisty queer women and dykes). You can also sign up to be weekend volunteer with Pride Toronto and help us on Dyke Day with the rally, march, and dyke picnic on June 30.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Libido
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Your sexy launch to celebrating Pride 2012 dyke styles
The Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen Street West
9:00 p.m. until late

Dyke-versity Fair
Saturday, June 23 and Sunday, June 24, 2012
Details soon!
Sign up to help is organize and run the Fair.

DYKE DAY
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Rally 1:00 p.m.
March 2:00 p.m.
Picnic 3:00 p.m.

May 2, 2012
VOLUNTEER FOR LUMINATO

Due to its diverse programming, you may be interested in the behind-the-scenes look offered by volunteering with Luminato. Luminato is looking for Event Volunteers from June 1 to 24 (Festival Dates: June 8 to 17).

Are you passionate about the arts, interested in learning new skills, or enjoy meeting new people? Volunteering at the Luminato Festival is for you! Join an enthusiastic and dedicated team of volunteers to engage with the Toronto community in a unique and unforgettable way. Interested? Sign up on MyVolunteerPage.com or contact us at volunteer@luminato.com.

March 13, 2012
CANADIAN QUEER HISTORIES MONTH

A working group is launching Canadian Queer Histories Month this May and are asking for your help with ideas, research, and outreach. The inaugural year of this 2012 project will consist of a calendar that features issues, icons, and events significant to Canadian Queer Histories. The calendar will be aimed primarily at teachers and students of grades K-12, but its daily short essays, and online segments will be of interest to a much wider audience. The project is expected to grow in coming years to include an online interactive component and full lesson plans for teachers.

For more information, including Mandate and 2012 Mission Statement, please visit: https://lgbtqhistory.wordpress.com

Your help is needed to ensure the diversity of the calendar’s content and voices!
Here are some ways to be involved:

List! Submit a list of issues, icons, or events that you believe should be featured on the calendar. Just a list would be wonderful; we’re happy to do the work from there.
Write! Contribute to the calendar content itself by writing a short essay.
We need as many different voices as possible!
Join! Join the working group.
Tell! Spread the word about the Month and our call for ideas and researchers/writers.
Please take a moment to forward this message.
Celebrate! Join us for the launch, check out the completed calendar, and follow the daily online segments.

Get in touch:

Email: lgbtqhistory@gmail.com
Facebook: Queer History Month (Canada)
Twitter: @queerhistory

March 5, 2012
SHU LEE CHEANG

After the PROUD Drop-in on March 7, featuring guest speaker Mikiki (see below), stick around as Art Creates Change: The Kym Pruesse Speaker Series presents leading multidisciplinary artist Shu Lee Cheang:

"Cheang was the first net artist commissioned by Guggenheim Museum New York for her work Brandon (1998-1999), a one-year web narrative project on trans politics and cyber/gender crime. A self-proclaimed digital nomad, Cheang’s work threads sci-fi narratives, queer politics, rebellion force, e-trash, data-trash, viral love, compost and worm action..."

Shu Lea Cheang’s talk is presented in conjunction with the Mark S. Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies, University of Toronto.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012
7:30 p.m.
Auditorium (Room 190)
Free
Register to attend

http://apache.ocad.ca/events_calendar/eventdetail.php?id=3528

February 29, 2012
QUEERNESS DOES:
MEANING IN QUEER SEX, SAFETY AND SHARING OUR BODIES

PROUD at OCAD U and Health & Wellness welcome guest speaker Mikiki to PROUD Drop-in for an open discussion:

Wednesday, March 7, 2012
4 to 6 p.m.
Room 187, Level 1
100 McCaul Street

Queerness and queer sex is a place to make meaning in our lives and to build communities of shared pleasure, relating responsively and responsibly to our own and each other’s sexual subjectivity. Special guest Mikiki will lead an open, inclusive discussion with OCAD U students who identify as queer or as having queer sex, to connect to the beautiful mysteries of our sexualities and demystify our bodies and anatomies, their processes and the fun we can connect to in them.

This is a no-touch workshop that will explicitly use sexualized language.

ABOUT MIKIKI:
Mikiki is a queer performance and video artist from Newfoundland now living in Toronto. Mikiki has worked as a sexuality educator with CBCA Sexual & Reproductive Wellness Centre in Calgary High Schools, a bathhouse attendant in Saskatoon, the Gay Men's Wellness Outreach Coordinator for the AIDS Committee of Ottawa, a drag queen karaoke hostess in St. John's, an HIV Educator at AIDS Community Care Montreal and now as Poz Prevention Coordinator at Toronto People With AIDS Foundation. Their work has been shown in artist-run centres, public galleries and self-produced interventions throughout Canada.

February 14, 2011
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

In conjunction with the 2012 Canadian University Queer Services Conference, being held this May at University of Regina, the U of R's Fifth Parallel Gallery will be hosting an exhibition of queer artwork.

Artworks should consider personal definitions of queerness, queer aesthetics, and the artist’s relationship to their own communities. Electronic submissions are being accepted for consideration until March 15, 2012 and eight to twelve works will be selected for exhibition. All applicants will be contacted no later than April 1.

In your submission package please include:

A brief artist statement (max. one page in length) explaining the work(s) being submitted.
A brief statement of intent (max. one page in length) outlining the technical requirements of the work(s), if applicable. Please also note what, if anything, the gallery will need to supply in order to exhibit the work(s) correctly.
Five images with accompanying image list that provides the title, medium, duration, etc. of each work. A short video may be substituted for video/performance works.

Works must arrive at the Fifth Parallel Gallery by April 15 as they will be installed on April 22. Shipping information will be emailed to successful applicants.

Note: although open to artists across Canada in the hopes that some of the conference delegates will submit work, it should be noted that due to the Fifth Parallel Gallery’s position as a student-funded, student-run space, artists will be responsible for the shipping of their artwork should they choose to participate. It should also be noted that works will not be insured during their exhibition. Participating artists will, however, be awarded a $75 honorarium with the possibility of this amount increasing depending on the number of artists chosen to exhibit and the amount of funding available.

Only electronic submissions will be accepted via email.

February 8, 2011
DYKE DISCUSSION GROUP AT U OF T

The Centre for Women and Trans People at U of T has extended an invitation to PROUD at OCAD U queer and questioning women and dyke-identified Trans people to attend the launch of the new discussion group. Please feel free to drop by for the initial Meet and Greet, and attend subsequent Wednesday night sessions for discussion. Feel free to share the information across your networks, and with your friends.

Dyke Discussion Group Meet and Greet
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
7 to 9 p.m.
The Centre for Women and Trans People at U of T
563 Spadina Avenue, Room 100
Toronto, ON

Find this event on facebook

Come have a snack and share your ideas for what you want the group to be!
Students and community members welcome. Bring friends!

First discussion: February 22

ABOUT THE GROUP:
Coming out? Questioning? New to campus? New to Toronto or to Canada? Not sure about queer sex? Want to meet new dyke friends? Need to unload about the latest lesbian drama explosion at Cherry Bomb?

The Dyke Discussion Group is a drop-in group for support, conversation, and social networking for all queer and questioning women and dyke-identified Trans people from both the U of T and the wider Toronto communities. The group is an affirmative and supportive safer space where we can chat about and listen to experiences, ideas, and struggles that relate, however distantly, to being a dyke. The group is self-directed, meaning that topics for discussion are brought to the group by each evening’s participants. Topics include, but are certainly not limited to, coming out; homo, bi and trans-phobia; queer politics and culture; and local queer events and news. The group is collaborative and self-directed, so participants will also have the opportunity to visit with guest speakers and plan field trips, if they choose. Overall, the group is a place where we can learn from each other, meet other like-minded folks, and share space and energy with a bunch of queers.

ABOUT THE CENTRE:
The Centre for Women and Trans People is a drop-in space for University of Toronto students and community members. The Centre is committed to fostering an anti-oppressive, safer, communal environment through offering access to food security, alternative media, peer support, as well as educational and cultural programming. The Centre is a family-friendly space for women and Trans people as well as their friends and allies. The Centre is committed to empowering its participants in their own creative self-determination and expression, collaborating with other social justice organizations to mobilize around issues of discrimination (including but not limited to sexism, colonialism, racism, cissexism, heterosexism, monosexism), facilitating decolonization and dismantling privilege, and supporting marginalized voices.

QUESTIONS or IDEAS?
Contact Laura, Dyke Discussion Group facilitator

January 26, 2011
NEW! WEEKLY PROUD DROP-IN

Weekly PROUD Drop-in starts February 1! A casual and intimate queer-positive space, PROUD Drop-ins give you the opportunity to connect with other members of OCAD U's LGBQTGI2Q community: make new friends; plan on- and off-campus projects and activities; talk about coming out; talk about relationships and safe sex; talk about anything at all! Light refreshments will be available.

January 17, 2011
WINTER QUEER CAFE SCHEDULE

Winter Queer Cafe shedule posted. Queer Cafes provide an opportunity for OCAD U's queer community to meet 'n greet and connect over coffee, hot chocolate and snacks:

Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Of course we remain open to hearing from you with ideas or interest in helping plan other activities too!

January 10, 2011
DYKE MARCH TEAM CALLS FOR VOLUNTEERS

The Toronto Dyke March is ramping up for 2012, and is seeking LGBTTIQQ2SA women and trans-people who would like to help organize this year's march and affiliated events; including parties, panels, political actions, community art projects. Those experienced and those seeking to develop new skills are welcome. Help is needed with event coordination, fund-raising and budgeting, graphic and web design, social media, marketing, blogging, community outreach, volunteer coordination, and political action.

Applicants are encouraged to self-identify. Queers of colour, Indigenous dykes and trans-people are strongly encouraged to apply. There is more than one way to be involved:

Join the committee! DEADLINE: January 16, 2012
Send a brief introduction, including:

your qualifications and experience
why you would like to be involved
the skills you would like to develop
your areas of interest

Feel free to follow this template: http://docs.com/G187

Join the street team!
Help us when you can with:

postering
baking
running and attending events
marshaling the march

Come to our open committee meetings, bring a friend, see what we're up to, and share your thoughts. Email us at dykemarchto@gmail.com to sign up, and we'll add you to the list.

Join our online community!

Follow us on twitter (@dykemarchto). Help us by retweeting
Like our Facebook community page (DykeMarch Toronto) and comment on,
like and share our postings
Get in the loop on Toronto's hottest queer events by checking the calendar on our Facebook page
Tweet, email, and holler your ideas and comments to us!

Questions?
Get in touch anytime! We'd LOVE to hear your ideas, concerns, and musings.
Email dykemarchto@gmail.com

About Dyke March:
Dyke March 2012 is on Saturday, June 30 at 2:00 p.m.
For more information, visit the Dyke March page on the Pride Toronto website:
www.pridetoronto.com/festival/parade-marches/dyke-march

January 3, 2011
HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Some regular Queer Cafes will be scheduled this semester. Watch for your chance to vote on 'when'. Of course we remain open to hearing from you with ideas or interest in helping plan other activities too!

November 22, 2011
COURAGE IN THE FACE OF HATE

Calling all members of the LGBTQ community who have been assaulted, bullied, harassed, victimized or abused based on their real or perceived sexual orientation and/or gender identity to stand up together and speak out against hate crimes. Share your experiences during a focus group and individual interviews.

Thursday, November 24, 2011
6 p.m.
Food will be provided

The focus group and interviews will be filmed to be used as part of an education lesson plan for high school students across the country. Each participant will receive a stipend for their participation.

Interested participants must RSVP:
stophate@egale.ca or call 1-888-204-7777 ext. 26

Help in the fight to abolish hate crimes.

November 22, 2011
SALAAM SUPPORT GROUP

The Salaam Support Group, which provides support and fosters a sense of community amongst queer-identified Muslims and their allies within the GTA, is starting up again. Group discussion topics will range from sex to spirituality, relationships to health, and so on.

First get-together:

Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Fireplace Room (#201)
519 Community Centre
519 Church Street, Toronto

At the first meeting, facilitators will introduce themselves and open up discussion about the group's goals. There will be an opportunity to get to know each other through icebreakers. Other topics for discussion will include being Muslim and queer, the advantages and disadvantages of coming/being "out", and the recent "It Gets Better" campaign. Refreshments will be provided!

Any interested members of the community are asked to email Salaam for more information. Your confidentiality and privacy are of the utmost importance to us, and we strive to respect that always.

November 21, 2011
QUEER CAFE CANCELLED

We apologize for the last-minute notification, but the Queer Cafe being planned for November 22 has been cancelled. Watch for more activities, events and opportunities starting in January. Hope to see you at the Annual Gingerbread Competition on Thursday. Good luck with exams/critiques and enjoy your break!

November 16, 2011
CANDY FLOSS AT GINGERBREAD COMPETITION

PROUD at OCAD U will be sponsoring a Candy Floss machine at next week's Annual Gingerbread Competition (November 24, 12 noon to 3:30 pm) in the Great Hall. Come by and join the competition or just pay a visit for some free candy floss!

November 1, 2011
ALL OUT!

PROUD has been formally invited to All Out (November 4), a conceptual party aimed at bringing the LGBTQ community together as a whole, regradless of sex, gender or race, with a safe and a comfortable atmosphere for questioning or newly identified queers. Cheap drinks and cheap cover. :) Let Josephine know if anyone is interested in making this a group outing.

https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=181055148641975

October 25, 2011

Follow" us on PROUD at OCAD U's new twitter account.

October 24, 2011

Join PROUD at OCAD U for an off-campus Halloween Pub/Club Night on Saturday, October 29 (costumes encouraged, but optional), 9 p.m. at O'Grady's, 518 Church Street!

October 21, 2011

Check out the PROUD at Halloween table in the main lobby on Friday, October 28 (1 to 6 p.m.). Volunteers still needed!

October 17, 2011

Check out our new PROUD at OCAD U email!
Contact Josephine N. directly at proud.ocadu@gmail.com

October 3, 2011

This note is being posted on behalf of Josephine N., our new PROUD at OCAD U Student Monitor:

Hi! I'm Josephine, your new PROUD at OCAD U Student Monitor and I’m excited to dedicate some time developing and coordinating PROUD at OCAD U from a student perspective -- hopefully that means I can get some awesome stuff on the go!

I'm putting together a general meeting/focus group to help us figure out what direction we want to go in and what kind of events we want to see for right now, and in the long term. I see that scheduling has been kind of awkward in the past, so I made a "when is good" schedule to help us pick the best time. Just "paint" the times that are best for you, and we'll go with what works best for the most people.

http://whenisgood.net/98n3c39

If you can't make it to the time we pick, but you still have ideas/suggestions and want to get involved, shoot me a message! We'll also need some volunteers to help set up refreshments, message me if you're interested. Remember, there's no PROUD group without you! We need your involvement to be successful. :)

~ JOSEPHINE

September 29, 2011

Campus Life is pleased to announce that student Josephine N. has been hired as our first-ever PROUD at OCAD U Student Monitor. Josephine is very excited to embark on this fun adventure which will mainly encompass support for, and coordination of, PROUD at OCAD U activities for OCAD U's LGBQTGI2Q community through the coming academic year. Josephine brings to this position experience and knowledge gained from her involvement and running of similar programming at LGBTMUN (Memorial University of Newfoundland). Please join me in welcoming Josephine!

COMMUNITY SERVICES

519 Community Centre
519 Church Street
Tel: 416-392-6878

Legal assistance; lesbian, gay, bi, and trans groups.

Coalition for Lesbian & Gay Rights Ontario
Box 822, Station A
Tel: 416-392-6878, Ext. 4049

Provincial Lobbying and education.

Deaf Queer Resource Centre

National non-profit resource and information for, by, and about the deaf queer community.

Lesbian & Gay Bashing Hotline
Tel: 416-392-6877

Lesbian Gay Bi Trans Youth Line
Tel: 416-962-9688

Support, information and referrals specific to LGBT youth concerns by LGBT peers.
Sex positive and non-judgmental.

PRIDE Toronto
501-65 Wellesley St. East
Tel: 416-927-7433

Exists to celebrate the history, courage, diversity and future of Toronto's queer communities.

PROUD at OCAD University

On-campus support/social network for students, faculty, staff.

Queer Asian Youth
33 Isabella Street, Suite 107
Tel: 416-963-4300

Social space for LGBT East and South-east Asian youth and their friends.

Rainbow Health Ontario
Sherbourne Health Centre
333 Sherbourne Street
Tel: 416-324-4100

Rainbow Health Ontario (RHO) is a province-wide program that works to improve the health and well-being of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people in Ontario through education, research, outreach and public policy advocacy.
The RHO mission is to improve access to services and to promote the health of Ontario’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans communities.

Salaam, the Queer Muslim Community of Toronto
519 Church Street
416-925-XTRA (9872), Ext. 2209