Oklahoma City University is set to host the eighth annual Freedom Oklahoma College Summit for the first time on Feb. 21.
Freedom Oklahoma is the state’s only LGBTQ+ political advocacy organization. The Freedom Oklahoma College Summit is an annual event meant to help build and expand the community of LGBTQ+ students and allies across Oklahoma college campuses.
Elizabeth Horn, director of programming for Freedom Oklahoma, said the College Summit is unlike any other event in Oklahoma.
“It’s really the only event of its kind in the region, where we bring our LGBTQ and allied students and faculty and community members together to learn the best practices in LGBTQ advocacy, law, civil rights, community organizing, health, you name it,” Horn said.
The event takes place at a different Oklahoma college campus each year. Russ Tallchief, director of student diversity and inclusion, said he’s happy OCU was picked to host the event this year.
“That is so important that the community recognizes OCU as a safe space because that’s not the case throughout the state,” Tallchief said.
Tallchief also said it’s important for OCU to continue to be active in LGBTQ+ advocacy.
“It is absolutely vital that we are inclusive and that we are viewed as inclusive, and we have to do that through action, and this is the type of thing that is demonstrative of inclusivity. We’re not just saying it, we’re hosting the entire statewide LGBT college conference,” Tallchief said.
Horn said she’s currently working with the OCU Spectrum Alliance to help plan the College Summit.
“Whatever the LGBT group is on campus, we like to really use them as a steering community for the event so that it can be catered to what their experience has been on campus,” Horn said.
Hannah V. Boyens, film/vocal performance senior, said she hopes the event can teach students how to expand activism beyond a college campus.
“There’s always room to grow and talk about what we can do outside of the boundaries of campus, because I feel like sometimes we’re in a little bubble,” Boyens said.
This year, the theme of the event is bringing racial justice to LGBTQ+ advocacy.
“We’ve had situations on campus here at OCU that have made people question our inclusivity. We’ve had some unfortunate racist language, and so I feel like this is an opportunity for us to just help people understand that OCU is inclusive and that we are still growing and that we are still willing to learn as a campus. This is an opportunity for us to both educate, because we’ll be hosting, but also for the campus to learn,” Tallchief said.
At the event, there will be breakout sessions about growing up queer in rural areas, Native American two-spirit identity and culture and a keynote speaker from New York.
AC Dumlao, activist, educator and founder of “Call Me They,” will be speaking at the Summit.
“This is the first time we’re actually bringing in a keynote from outside the state,” Horn said.
Last year’s event had about 150 people attend, and 19 different colleges and universities represented.
“We’re on track to have about that same turnout this year, which is very exciting,” Horn said.
Registration for the event is free, and lunch will be provided. Freedom Oklahoma will also be looking for any volunteers who wish to help with the event.
Students can learn more by going to Freedom Oklahoma’s website.
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