By Tables from organizations providing services including gender affirming care, the university’s Trans Care team and 12-step fellowship programs lined the speaker’s platform outside of the Beach Shops Bookstore Oct. 8 for the GLOW As You Are Resource Fair.
The university’s LGBTQ+ Resource Center worked alongside the Women’s Gender and Equity Center to bring together groups who provide resources to the LGBTQ+ student community.
“For us, it’s a really big way of showing our community that we belong on campus,” Ash Preston, assistant director of the LGBTQ+ Resource Center, said. “We have a place, you can see us out in the open very visibly.”
The Queer Student Alliance and the Queer and Trans Faculty and Staff Affinity Group were present at the fair.
Student Health Services is the on campus medical clinic available for students and provided through their tuition. The clinic houses a sub-department that focuses on gender affirming care.
The sub-department’s services include laboratory tests, a clinical team and both estrogen and testosterone specific hormone therapy.
Student Health Services share information on gender affirming care available on campus. Students are given pamphlets and candy as they hear about the on and off campus resources. Photo credit: Jamie R. Austria
Students can get help and treatment from their dedicated clinical team. Once speaking with an assigned case manager for a consultation, students will then be prepared for treatment and receive a prescription, should hormone therapy be a right fit.
“A lot of people start out with just making an appointment just for primary care,” Rachel Porter, peer health educator, said. “And then they express their interest in gender affirming care or their interest in what their options are and then we can refer them.”
The Atlantic Alano Club is another program aimed to help those within the LGBTQ+ community. The nonprofit club hosts events in support of the community, especially in the recovery space.
12-step fellowship program meetings range from Alcoholics Anonymous, Crystal Meth Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous. They are free to attend and available both in-person and online.
“If anybody is struggling or is curious about recovery, we encourage them to check [the meetings] out because we’re also one of the only queer meeting spaces south of Silverlake and north of San Diego,” Albert Madrigal, member of the Atlantic Alano Club said. “We started in 1984 in response to a need in the community for queer people and people of color, as well, to have a meeting space that was affirming to them.”
The university also has two programs that were founded to bring together the LGBTQ+ community.
CSULB’s CAPS staff psychologist, Shelly Collins, hosts a table at the resource fair. Students are informed of different services within CAPS specific to the LGBTQ+ community like drop-in spaces and a team available for trans-care . Photo credit: Jamie R. Austria
The Queer Student Alliance, a student-run club, focuses on making a safe space for LGTBQ+ students. The club hosts regular meetings on campus.
An upcoming event includes a tea party in collaboration with CSULB’s Furries at the Beach. The QSA also plans on creating a community-made magazine where individuals are welcome to submit their own artwork and writing.
The Queer and Trans Faculty and Staff Affinity Group is a CSULB organization focused on campus employees. The group hosts social events to unite those who share similar experiences and to better their time while working at the university. These events provide LGBTQ+ and transgender staff with the opportunity to make friends and connections outside of campus.
The group also hosts events that students are welcome to attend. These are done to introduce students to faculty who are a part of the same community.
“A themed experience with LGBT students is that it can be a little bit lonely,” Raul Pacheco, QTFSA staff chair, said. “A lot of the time they don’t see themselves represented in faculty because maybe they don’t have a queer faculty member in their particular college so it’s good for them to see other queer folks on campus and for them to know that they’re not alone.”
