By Ian Chung
For The Diamondback
About 40 University of Maryland LGBTQ+ community members and allies celebrated culture and highlighted the importance of togetherness amid recent threats against the community at a Q-mmunity Kiki and dinner Tuesday in Stamp Student Union.
This university’s LGBTQ+ Equity Center hosted the kiki, which are social gatherings rooted in Black and brown LGBTQ+ ballroom culture that include song and dance.
“I don’t want to say there’s only one definition or one way to do a kiki,” b.a. medina, director of this university’s Bias and Incident Services, said. “It is really the purpose for us to be an inside community, to celebrate our existence … especially at a time when so much about who we are is being attacked.”
[UMD community members demand university protects international students at office protest]
Tuesday’s event began with an informative video about the history and evolution of kikis in New York City.
The kiki scene comes from ballroom and house culture in the LGBTQ+ community, according to an introductory video played at the event from the Hetrick-Martin Institute — a nonprofit dedicated to helping LGBTQ+ youth. Kikis can also help provide a safe space community members to find support, enter dance competitions, and receive healthcare and STI education, according to video.
After the video, equity center director Kristopher Oliviera encouraged event attendees to sit together in groups to express their current feelings and how they felt they could contribute to their communities.
Xander Williams, a doctoral aerospace engineering student, said kikis are a “staple in queer culture.” It is important to hold such events at this university because it is a safe space for community members to express themselves, Williams added.
Competitions at kikis are also exciting, Williams said, which can include “Best Dressed” and “Butch Queen.”
Some attendees of Tuesday’s kiki also highlighted the importance of togetherness amid multiple of U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive orders targeting the LGBTQ+ community.
[UMD community members brace for impacts of Trump orders on LGBTQ+ community]
Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 20 for federal agencies to only recognize two unchangeable sexes — male and female. In the months since his inauguration, he also signed orders to restrict gender-affirming healthcare and ban transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports.
Natalie Gerratt, a network architect at the Division of Information Technologies at this university, said she attended a rally in Washington, D.C., on Monday for International Transgender Day of Visibility. It is difficult to distance yourself from politics at this university, Gerratt added.
“I don’t think that you can get away from politics here right now,” Gerratt said. “We’re so close to D.C., where all the politics is.”
medina said the event was especially important to “be in solidarity with one another” when the LGBTQ+ community is being “attacked.”
“There are a lot of staff, students and faculty on this campus that would care for you and all of you,” medina said. “You are here, and you matter, and we’re here for you.”
