The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer Resource Center hosted its annual Queer Fall Fling on Thursday night from 6 to 10 p.m.
“This is how we celebrate each other and have fun,” Multicultural Center Director Pablo Mendoza said.
Nearly 150 people attended the Queer Fall Fling at the LGBTQ Resource Center, and people spilled out into the student center lounges. According to Mendoza, only 40 people attended the first fall fling.
“One thing I’ve noticed over the years is increased acceptance of the LGBTQ community,” Mendoza said. “We’ve really progressed substantially since I’ve entered the field.”
The fling welcomed both the LGBTQ community and its allies to come make friends, play video games and bond as the 2011-12 academic year begins.
“You don’t know how much of a queer community there really is until you see all these people crammed in a tiny place eating pizza,” junior Alyx Marema said.
Women’s Center Director Laura Hacquard, who also helped supervise the fling, said the event was a great way to provide people with a chance to know that there is an accepting community at MU.
“I thought it’d be cool to meet people who are like me,” graduate student Jasmine Whitlow said. “It’s good to have a space for people to come and feel comfortable.”
When Triangle Coalition Communications Officer Paul Reeves began his college search, finding one that supported the LGBTQ community was especially important to him. Reeves comes from a small town in Kansas where a queer community does not exist.
Reeves said he thought MU’s LGBTQ Resource Center had a “large, friendly, and loving” community.
“I immediately latched to this community because it’s so fantastic,” Reeves said. “I got involved immediately.”
The LGBTQ Resource Center will host a Spring Fling next semester like it as it has done the last four years.
“The resource center has really made me feel at home at Mizzou and Columbia,” Reeves said. “No matter what happens to me while I’m here, I know I can turn to my friends from the resource center and everything will work out in the end.”
Triangle Coalition is just one of the clubs offered at MU that supports this community. InsideOUT, Fluidity and Allies In Action all work toward supporting the right for students to feel comfortable expressing who they are.
This is the fourth year the resource center has put on the Queer Fall Fling, and its aim is to let incoming and returning students know there is a safe, open place on campus for the LGBTQ community.