LGTBQ Distinguished Lecture Series
Staff Sergeant Eric Alva: Iraq War Veteran and LGBT Advocate
Date: March 5, 2013
Time: 3:30-5pm
Place: Feature Gym-France A. Cordova Recreational Sports Center
Description: Retired Staff Sergeant Eric Alva was the first American soldier injured in the Iraq War. Hailed as an American hero, Alva was decorated and visited by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Vice President Dick Cheney, and President George W. Bush. However, he was only able to be true to himself after he left the military, and upon his retirement came out as a gay man. Today, Alva is a gay rights advocate who often speaks about LGBT issues and the military. He also played an important role in helping repeal the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, working with members of Congress to put an end to the discriminatory practice. A powerful inspirational speaker, Eric Alva discusses his battle to overcome his injuries and the difficulties he encountered after leaving mili-tary life. From learning to walk with a prosthetic, to his desire to continue his education and get his degree, Alva shows audiences that it is important to never give up. He emphasizes that by doing the right thing, from studying hard and working hard and everything in between, obstacles can be conquered.
Sponsors: LGBTQ Center, Latino Cultural Center, and the Office of Institutional Equity
Zoe Nicholson: A Lifetime of Advocacy
Date: March 21, 2013
Time: 6pm Film: “March On” followed by presentation by Zoe Nicholson
Place: Matthews 210
Description: Zoe Nicholson has been speaking for over forty years, collecting wisdom stories and creating new experiences. Recently, she was profiled in the official documentary of the National Equality March for LGBTQ Equality in our nation’s capital. Her presentation is dynamic, inspiring and, always powerful. Using her life as the platform, she takes the audience on a pilgrimage through civil rights, feminism, the LGBTQ movement and lands them on the intersection of Equality and Hope. Zoe has fasted, marched, organized and rallied for social justice and at 63 years young, she will share insights into devoting a lifetime to equity and peace.
Sponsor: LGBTQ Center
Dr. David Shneer on Paragraph 175 and the Nazi Persecution of Gays and Lesbians
Date: April 6, 2013
Time: 6pm
Place: Krannert Auditorium
Description: By the 1920's, Berlin had become known as a queer eden, where gay men and lesbians lived relatively open lives amidst an exciting subculture of artists and intellectuals. With the coming to power of the Nazis, all this changed. Between 1933 and 1945 100,000 men were arrested for homosexuality under Paragraph 175, the sodomy provision of the German penal code dating back to 1871. Some were imprisoned, others were sent to concentration camps. Of the latter, only about 4,000 survived. Dr. David Shneer holds a PhD from the University of California-Berkeley and has been called a “taboo-breaking scholar” researching Jewish society, culture, and Jews and sexuality. He is the author of “Queer Jews,” a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award, and has lectured about the Nazi persecution of gays and lesbians during World War II as well as LGBTQ lives in the years following the war. Join us for a screening of the award winning documentary Paragraph 175 with comments and conversation facilitated by Dr. David Shneer.
Sponsors: LGBTQ Center and the Greater Lafayette Holocaust Remembrance Conference