The Angelina Pedroso Center for Diversity and Intercultural Affairs celebrates October as LGBTQ+ History Month. Every October we acknowledge the history and achievements of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and all things queer through the development and implementation of various programs and events. This year's theme is Safety in Community. We hope to see you at an upcoming event to help us build toward a safer more inclusive campus community. 

*Denotes the event is free and open to the public.

Trivia Night At Pedroso 

4:00-6:00 p.m. Monday, Oct. 2
Pedroso Center, Room B 159

In celebration of LGBTQ+ History Month, the Pedroso Center invites trivia fans to test their knowledge and join us in celebrating LGBTQ+ History Month with an evening of fun. Bring your best LGBTQ+ history and pop culture knowledge to Trivia Night at Pedroso. Picture rounds, music rounds, plenty of random facts and interesting tidbits are all included. Participants can enjoy showing off what they know or just being the one with a lucky guess.

Contact: Fawn E. Pochel, f-pochel@neiu.edu

drawing deportaTion: art and resistance among immigrant children with sylvia rodriguez-vega

11:00-1:00 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 05
Pedroso Center, Room B 159

Silvia Rodriguez-Vega is an interdisciplinary scholar and assistant professor at University of California Santa Barbara’s Department of Chicana/o Studies. She is a community engaged writer, artist, and educational practitioner. Her research explores the ways anti-immigration policy impacts the lives of immigrant children through methodological tools centering participatory art and creative expression.

Her first book, "Drawing Deportation: Art and Resistance among Immigrant Children" (NYU Press, 2023) argues that immigrant children are not passive in the face of the challenges presented by U.S. anti-immigrant policies. Based on 10 years of work with immigrant children in two different border states — Arizona and California — "Drawing Deportation" gives readers a glimpse into the lives of immigrant children and their families. Through an analysis of 300 children’s drawings, theater performances, and family interviews, this book is at once devastating and revelatory, provides a roadmap for how art can provide a necessary space for vulnerable populations to assert their humanity in a world that would rather divest them of it.

Contact: Valentina Gamboa-Turner, Associate Director, v-gamboa-turner@neiu.edu

national coming out day queer prom 

5:00-8:00 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 11
Alumni Hall 

The vision behind Queer Prom at Northeastern is to create a brave space centering inclusivity through an OUT of this world night of celebrating queerness and togetherness. Through acts of celebration, we will mobilize the development of Queer community at Northeastern by creating and stewarding bonds of solidarity across differing and intersecting expressions of identity. Northeastern students must present their student IDs at the door and are allowed only one guest (non-NEIU students, faculty or staff must be signed as guests of a Northeastern community member).
 
Contact: Valentina Gamboa-Turner, Associate Director, v-gamboa-turner@neiu.edu

Addressing Lgbtq+ intimate partner violence through human right expansion*

1:30-3:00 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 17
Pedroso Center, Room B 159

Associate Professor of Justice Studies and Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies Adam Messinger, and Lyle Clark, an anti-violence project “AVP” Advocate Clinician at Center on Halsted, will be in conversation around the issue of intimate partner violence (IVP) among LGBTQ+ populations. Panelists will focus on the movement to support LGBTQ+ IPV survivors through acts of strengthening human rights protections.

Following the lecture, please stick around for our Strengthening Community mocktail and resource tabling hour.

Contact: Fawn E. Pochel, f-pochel@neiu.edu

Pedroso Center Homecoming w/ alderperson jessica fuentes*

5:00-7:00 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 17
Pedroso Center, Room B 159

Alderperson Jessica Fuentes, MACTL and Justice Studies alumnus, will be the inaugural speaker for Pedroso Center Homecoming Celebration. As a student, Jessie was engaged in both advocating and securing funding for the building of the Angelina Pedroso Center for Diversity and Intercultural Affairs. We are honored to welcome her back in a celebratory Testimonio/Truth-Telling/Narrative of how her time as a Northeastern student leader contributed to her current role as a Chicago elected official and the "ward's youngest leader and the first queer Latina to step into the role" (blockclubchicago.org, March 6, 2023).

Contact: Valentina Gamboa-Turner, Associate Director, v-gamboa-turner@neiu.edu

INTERNATIONAL pronoun day one-page zine workshop 

12:00-2:00 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 19
Pedroso Center, Room B 159

A zine (/ziːn/ ZEEN; short for magazine or fanzine) is a small-circulation, self-published work of original or appropriated texts and images, usually reproduced via a copy machine.This workshop will focus on how to create simple one-page zines. This workshop is in celebration of International Pronoun Day, but the content of zines created during this workshop will be completely up to the creator(s).  

Contact: Fawn E. Pochel, f-pochel@neiu.edu

queering black community: exploring healing, ancestral connection, and reimagining ideas of home through our chosen family*

6:30-8:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 23rd 
Pedroso Center, Room B 159

Queering black community: exploring healing, ancestral connection, and reimagining ideas of home through our chosen family. This panel discussion features three queer black comrades. During the panel the panelists will invite each other to share stories and experiences that touch on their shared histories, the intersections of their identities, and a vision for a world that affirms and centers queer black people. Panelists will delve into the necessity of pleasure and joy well engaging in daily life- both as a basic human right and essential for survival.

Contact: Fawn E. Pochel, f-pochel@neiu.edu

You probably didn't learn this in sex ed 

12:15-1:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 26
Physical Education Complex, Room PE 2140 

Many of us share the belief that our sex education in high school hasn't really served us well in adulthood. This workshop is a sex-positive, gender-inclusive primer on sex for pleasure and identity affirmation. We will discuss gender identity and sexuality, identifying desires and boundaries, pleasure-based anatomy, communication, consent, and safety. Finally, we will survey different types of sex toys as well as how they can be used as tools to explore the boundless possibilities of sensuality.