Associated Students Trans and Queer Commission held their annual Pride Week from April 5-11 with the goal of celebrating queer culture at UC Santa Barbara. This year’s Pride Week, themed “Pride is in Bloom,” featured multiple events with prominent queer figures, including a research panel and drag show.
Although the national Pride Month is in June, the Trans and Queer Commission (TQC) hosts Pride Week earlier to avoid conflicts with finals. This allows students to attend without the stress of exams and other academic commitments.
On April 9, TCQ hosted a fashion show in collaboration with UCSB’s Drag Club. Shengyu Zhang / Daily Nexus
Queer Research Panel
TQC hosted a “Queer Research Panel” at the Student Resource Building (SRB) on April 6. The event featured queer UCSB research professors who shared their experiences with navigating their identities in the context of academia. The professors included writing and literature professor Michelle Petty, sociology professor Dana Kornberg, environmental studies professor An Bui and ecology professor Jackie Shay.
Fourth-year biology major Theo Jiang hosted the panel and asked the speakers questions submitted by audience members. The first question from the audience asked how the professors maintain Pride in their identities within research. Shay explained that her research is currently focused on joy within large science classrooms. She believes that joy does not take away from the rigor of a course but instead creates a sense of inclusion.
“That [joy] broke open the door for me that allowed me to walk through and really embrace science as a part of who I am,” Dr. Shay said. “I find joy to be a place where I see my identity — my queer identity — come into play because I see how it just creates a space where everyone can be themselves …”
Hadley Simmons, a second-year writing and literature major, shared how her queer identity has affected her educational endeavors.
“I do a lot of writing about queerness and identity … and I’ve allowed queer theory and trans theory and different kinds of intersecting identities to inform my research and the questions I’m asking,” Simmons said.
Comedy Night with Dewayne Perkins
On Tuesday, Emmy-nominated comedian and actor Dewayne Perkins was invited to The Hub to perform a stand-up comedy set that was free for students to attend. The comedy show titled “How Being Black and Gay Made Me Better Than You!” featured bits about grade school mishaps, growing up and embracing queerness.
Finnick Gonzalez, a third-year psychological & brain sciences and English double major, organized the event and was glad to have the funding to bring in more prominent names to perform at this year’s Pride Week. He explained that the queer community often uses humor to share common ground and hoped that the show was able to bring some laughs to attendees.
Perkins explained a time where he was being bullied because of his identity — tired of the harassment, he decided to physically fight back against it. He said this ultimately became a defining moment in his life.
“[After I hit my bully] I started crying harder than him. I was so mad because I felt so bad for being bad and I just … It was in that [moment] I realized that I didn’t want to hurt people,” Perkins said. “I just wanted people to stop hurting me.”
Perkins ended the comedy show with a Q&A section where he answered audience questions ranging from his relationship status to his future career ambitions. He excitedly shared about working with comedian Tiffany Haddish, continuing to perform and creating new media.
Trans Care Fair
On April 8, QTC hosted their second ever Trans Care Fair outside of the SRB. It was hosted in collaboration with multiple queer-aligned organizations on campus, including Black Quare and Marginalized Genders in Gaming. The aim of the event was to ensure that Pride Week featured an event specifically geared towards transgender people.
Third-year psychological & brain sciences major Laura Ballard-Arellano stated the significance of transgender spaces in LGBTQIA+ settings, emphasizing “The ‘T’ (in LGBTQIA) is there. The ‘T’ stays there.”
The Trans Care Fair’s primary focus was education and resources for attendees. Gilead Sciences, a biopharmaceuticals company, shared information on sexual health and Sexually Transmitted Disease prevention. Legal information on topics such as name changes for transgender people as well as scholarship details were presented.
Third-year sociology major Dee Saenz and coordinator for Trans and Gender Nonconforming events hopes to host the Trans Care Fair again soon, with even more booths and organizations.
Student Film Festival
Later that night, TQC hosted a Student Film Festival at Anisq’Oyo’ Park in Isla Vista. They screened two student films; the first being “Queer,” created by second-year film and media studies and psychological & brain sciences double major Anastasia Rose Wang. The second film was “Opera Box,” created by first-year film and media studies and statistics and data science double major Rishika Pandrala and animated by first-year film and media studies major S.J. Ly.
The outdoor movie projection set-up then screened the 2022 film “Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe,” a coming-of-age romantic comedy that follows the love story between two Mexican-American teenage boys.
Summer Tucker, a third-year anthropology and sociology double major, organized the event in order to promote UCSB student filmmakers and to highlight queer representation in film.
“I hope that everyone who sees the film can find part of themselves on screen and feel less alone,” Tucker said.
Fashion Show
On April 9, TCQ hosted a fashion show in collaboration with UCSB’s Drag Club at The Hub. The show featured UCSB alumnus and professional drag queen Cherry Von Illa as the emcee of the event.
Von Illa emphasized that they believe fashion allows people, especially queer people, a space to express themselves freely.
”I think for queer people especially, fashion is one of the best ways that an individual can express their identity, personality, gender and sexuality expression,” Von Illa said. “I think clothing is a way for people to really just show the world: this is who I am.”
Von Illa also performed two solo performances throughout the show. One category titled “Performative Queer Identity” had models adorned in flannels, belts and carabiners to poke fun at “stereotypical queer attire.”
Next, a “bob-off” was held which had two attendees volunteer to wear wigs and attempt to snatch it off the other. The winner was awarded a $100 gift card. Audience members were also able to participate in a “lip-synch battle” where participants battled to have the best stage presence and overall performance.
The event concluded with “Mother Earth,” a reflection of the overall theme of Pride Week. Models wore flowy clothes and floral motifs to represent nature and spring.
Halee Scott, a second-year writing and literature major and TQC’s Pride commissioner, highlighted how fashion gives queer people courage to be themselves and find community.
“So many people tonight got on stage to do the lip-synch battle and that was so heartwarming and everyone was just cheering them on,” Scott said. “So, really it’s like a community where we’re here for each other.”
Queer Prom
TQC hosted “Queer Prom” at The Hub on April 10. According to Tucker, organizer of the event, they hosted a prom to give attendees an opportunity to “reimagine” their high school prom in an inclusive space. The prom featured a DJ, decorations, colorful low lighting and places to take pictures.
“I hope attendees of this event get a space to be themselves, but in a fun expressive way with their friends and have what you’re supposed to have at prom, which is something you’re gonna remember with your friends,” Tucker said.
Second-year computer science major Kai Houlihan explained how the prom gave them an opportunity to express their trans identity free of judgement.
“I’m trans and [the prom] allows me to be in a place where I can dress how I want to present in a safe manner,” Houlihan said. “It’s like a fun way to express yourself how you want without having to fear someone else bashing you for it.”
First-year psychological & brain sciences major Karina Martinez expressed the need for community in light of the current political climate.
“I feel like with everything happening in the world, we [queer people] have to stick together, especially since there is a lot of homophobia and transphobia within our [UCSB] community,” Martinez said.
Queer Fest and Drag Show
On the final day of Pride Week, April 11, TQC hosted “Queer Fest” and a drag show which featured four influential and professional drag queens.
The fest was hosted at Anisq’Oyo Park and featured arts and crafts, live music from local bands, queer UCSB organization tabling and local vendors.
Drag queen, Alaska Thunderfuck, performing at the April 11 drag show. Alexa Lopez / Daily Nexus
According to Vincent Calvillo, a fourth-year history and sociology double major and organizer of “Queer Fest,” the event was held at Anisq’Oyo Park to increase event turnout. Cavillo explained that this decision gave “Queer Fest” the highest turnout of the week.
Calvillo expressed his joy for how the week of events turned out.
“Pride Week has been really fantastic. I can say that most of our numbers from our events have been up compared to last year,” Calvillo said. “I feel like I’ve heard more people come up to us and tell us, ‘Thank you for having these events.’”
The drag show was held at Campbell Hall and featured five drag queens, four of who have been contestants on the reality show RuPaul’s Drag Race. The line up included Roxxxy Andrews, Alaska Thunderfuck, Saphirra Cristál, Morphine Love Dion and CoCo D. BauCherry. Each drag queen had multiple dance numbers with a ton of audience interaction. The show had many nods to RuPaul’s Drag Race and drag culture in general.
Cavillo shared why he believes Pride Week is an important part at UCSB.
“I think not only is it tradition that we’ve been doing this [Pride Week] since the ‘80s or ‘90s, but I think it’s important, even now given the circumstances we’re in politically, that we all have a space to congregate and be happy together,” Cavillo said.
A version of this article appeared on p. 5 of the April 16 print edition of the Daily Nexus
