The LGBTQ Resource Center strives to create an inclusive environment for the queer community at MU. One of the ways it carries out its mission is by hosting events like the Queer Spring Fling, which took place on Jan. 30.
The LGBTQ Resource Center hosted the Queer Spring Fling to allow students to build a community and make new friends at the start of the semester.
From 6 to 9 p.m., the lower level of the MU Student Center was bustling with students eager to meet new people and feel more a part of the queer community at MU. The LGBTQ Resource Center was the main hub of the event with students lounging, socializing and playing Super Smash Brothers on the Wii. In the Multicultural Center, students made Mason jars of glitter referred to as stress relief jars as well as friendship bracelets. Free pizza, noodles, soda and candy were enjoyed right next door in the Women’s Center.
The LGBTQ Resource Center has been hosting Fall and Spring flings for years as a way to welcome students back to campus for the new semester.
Typically, the Spring Fling tends to be less attended than the Fall Fling but had a large turnout on Thursday compared to recent years. Both students who are regulars at the LGBTQ Resource Center and students who had never visited came together for the event.
Wren Wachter, a sophomore transfer student, decided to attend the Queer Spring Fling to make new friends as they began their first semester at MU.
“It was like a way to meet … people like you,” Wachter said. “I think about how everyone has different labels, like there’s so much diversity in that but even in between … there’s so much variety in the queer community.”
As one of the only queer people at their small-town high school, Wachter struggled to find a sense of community, but they have finally found acceptance at MU. The diversity of the queer community at MU makes Wachter excited to become involved in the community. Spending the evening surrounded by new friendly faces at the Spring Fling made Wachter feel welcome as a queer student.
“Here, I feel like I can just be myself,” Wachter said with a smile.
Freshman Jesse Perue agrees that events like the Queer Spring Fling help build community and solidarity at MU.
“It does bring people together and it shows that you’re not alone on campus,” Perue said.
In April, the LGBTQ Resource Center will be hosting its annual Pride month. Events similar to the Queer Spring Fling will be held to allow queer students to celebrate their identities and their community at MU.
_Edited by Sophie Stephens | sstephens@themaneater.com_