5/9/08

Queer Culture at the U

By William Burleson

What’s one of oldest GLBT college group in the country? The Queer Student Cultural Center (QSCC) at the University of Minnesota.

What local organization has been in the eye of a media firestorm since January? Yup, that very same QSCC.

First, let me tell you about QSCC. QSCC is an umbrella organization for several different campus GLBT groups, such as Queer Women, Queer Men, Biversity, Queer People of Color, Tranarchy, and Kinky U (more on this last one shortly). QSCC offers the groups support, access to money from student services fees, and a place to meet.

Their office on the second floor of Coffman Union is called, “Safe Space.” And, says Justin, QSCC treasurer. “It’s a safe haven for anyone who wants to come in.”

Just ask Ashton, a PoliSci major from Windom, Minnesota. “There were NO out people at my high school. It’s nice to have a place to belong.” He adds, “That’s been the case with the whole campus, but it’s especially true at QSCC.”

“It’s a great place to hang out,” says Nico, a 3^rd year wildlife conservation major. Nico went to Cooper High in Robinsdale, where “I was the token queer student.” Now Nico is involved with Tranarchy, and when it comes to being trans, “it’s nice that QSCC is like, ‘Whatever.’”

Sounds pretty relaxed, doesn’t it? What’s so controversial about that? I mean, doesn’t every campus these days have something like this?

Maybe, but not every campus has a group called Kinky U.

Kinky U started as a group for devotees of all things, well, kink. Think bondage, leather, that sort of thing. As with all QSCC groups, Kinky U allows people to support each other, create community, and to share information about their common interests. The latter may be especially important for devotees of kink, in that we’re not talking about a knitting club where the worst danger would be accidentally stabbing yourself with a needle. With Kinky U, one may need to learn how TO use a needle and do it in such a way as to avoid causing damage or contracting a disease. Anyone who has tried their hand at these activities knows that boundaries and safety must be a focus at all times, and it’s important to learn right away about what to do and not to do.

Fair enough. So the group is there for the people who need it, and the rest of us can mind our own business, right? Wrong. On January 21^st the Minnesota Daily reported, “'Kinky U' promotes sexual awareness in unusual ways.” They wrote that some students objecting to Kinky U’s funding, with one student as saying, “…I don't really want my tuition to go to that.” Never mind that tuition doesn’t go to this or any other student group. All of QSCC is funded with student services fees, and Kinky U, as an official student group, gets a share. To be exact, they get $100 a semester, or, according to Justin, “About ½ penny a student.”

It didn’t end with the Daily. Next KSTP news got a hold of it, and did what Channel Five does with most stories: sensationalize it. For the story they used a graphic with triple X’s over legs on a dance floor that appear to me to be from a strip club (?). Next, KQRS’s morning show picked it up, and shed their usual find brand of journalism all over it. The City Pages got it next and, according to our QSCC members, did a good job. And finally, for me the piece de resistance, Katherine Kersten, right-wing columnist from the Star Tribune, grabbed onto it. It was a funny column. It was written assuming the reader would of course not support the group.

So was Kersten right? Has all this negative attention had a chilling affect for Kinky U? Quite the opposite: “It just exploded” in numbers of attendees, according to Justin. In fact, all QSCC groups saw increased attendance, especially for Kinky U. “It’s one of our largest member attended groups this year.” Justin calls it the Da Vinci Code affect (as in the movie). “So many people talked bad about it, everyone has to go see it.”

It’s amazing to me how much dust gets kicked up when it comes to sex, and it’s also amazing the impact of good marketing, namely picking the name “Kinky U.” And, as has happened again and again, the value of free publicity rightwing blowhards bring to something they hate is incredible. Go figure. You’d think they’d wise up and learn the old saw: there’s no such thing as bad publicity.

Maybe a little dust isn’t a bad thing.

For more information about QSCC, visit www.qscc.org. Questions? Comments? Contact me at my web site, www.forwhomthebilltools.org, and read past stories.