Students and staff engaged in an enlightening discussion at the Queering History: The History of Influential Queer People of Color event Wednesday evening.

Three volunteers, Marvin Logan, Karee Beasley and Racara Sawyer, from Black United Students, along with Roxie Patton, program coordinator for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Center, presented 10 influential queer people of color to the audience. The main goal of this program was to deflate common myths about the LGBTQ community and communities of color and to bring light to the strong history of queer people of color.

“One thing that we’re kind of familiar with is that history has been kind of ‘white washed’ in a lot of ways,” Patton said. “We have a lot of influential people of color who’ve done amazing things and those things are left out of the history books.”

The presentation covered people such as, but not limited to, Wanda Sykes, Bayard Rustin, Frank Ocean and Audre Lorde.

Elizabeth Ajunwa, senior international studies major, enjoyed the event and thinks there should be more events like this one.

“I think events like this are important because it breaks down stereotypes and makes people more comfortable with being who they are,” Ajunwa said. “I think being in college that’s the main thing. We should be able to have discourse and be able to feel comfortable in our own skin.”

Patton was pleased with the turnout of the event and is open to collaborating with more students and groups on campus.

“Black United Students and I are working together again this year to do a program called ‘On the Down Low,’” Patton said. “If students have other ideas, collaborations, other groups that want to work with the center, we are completely open to ideas from students. This is a student-driven center.”

Contact Kelsey Leyva at [email protected].