It’s hard enough meeting people organically, but if you are part of a marginalised group of any setting, it becomes even harder to find yourself in a space which is fully welcoming of all types of identities.
Huis Russel Botman, SRC consciousness and sexuality portfolio, QueerUS and LLL took it upon themselves to create an opportunity for individuals on Stellenbosch University campus to socialise and speed date in a safe space and get to know one another on campus.
“The importance of the event is to create a safe space for the queer community and make them feel like part of campus life. There has been speed dating before but not a queer speed dating event, and to my knowledge this event is the first of its kind at the university,” says Mohhadiah Rafique, SRC consciousness and Sexuality portfolio manager.
The event incorporated the entire queer spectrum and combined the space with interactive games along with a two minute at a time speed dating segment.
The event was more about forming connections and interactions between people and not necessarily meeting the next big love of your life. The SRC consciousness and sexuality portfolio’s aim is to produce evolving and shifting mindsets towards gender and sexuality.
Simonn Meyer, newly appointed QueerUS society chairperson (far left), with members of the QueerUS society. PHOTO: Caira Blignaut
“I am very passionate about the queer community. I feel like inclusion is very important. I believe that community stands for welcoming everyone and being your true authentic self. This event is significant within residence culture because I feel like Stellenbosch is still very traditional in its values”, says Laura Avontuur, Huis Russel Botman Chairperson.
“This event is important for awareness around queer people on campus and more importantly, an educational one”, says Avontuur.
“As someone who identifies as gay, I’m not really acquainted with the culture surrounding the topic in Stellenbosch. I come to these events to familiarise myself with the community I identify with”, says Virgil Scheepers, first-year Education student.
This event is an immense and vital step towards transformation within the queer community at Stellenbosch University and the future will hopefully see more of its kind.
“The event was a success. What truly was enjoyable about the night was the fact that it gave people the chance to connect with someone they may not have connected with before. Going forward, we would definitely want to include more nights like this in our repertoire”, says Simon Mayer, newly appointed Chairperson of QueerUS Society.
SRC consciousness and Sexuality Portfolio will be hosting a consciousness week from Monday the 27th of August which will run until the 31st. It will incorporate and raise similar topics such as the queer community in a Stellenbosch context.
The themes of the consciousness week will vary from being as wide as debating about the religion of white supremacy and the division of melanated people on campus to commemorating the young anti-apartheid regime activist, Ashley Kriel. The only entrance “fee” to these events would be to bring along sanitary products.