‘Queer Lights’ coming to UMass-Amherst
The University of Massachusetts-Amherst is offering a new seminar course for the spring 2019 semester titled ‘Queer Lights’.
The class “will cast light on lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, and asexual (LGBTQA) topics while the students in the class literally cast light-building LGBTQA-themed electronic light displays,” according to the course description.
Among the topics discussed will be “the intersections of racial and LGBTQA identities, the campus climate for LGBTQA students, and the legal and political rights of LGBTQA people today.”
David McLaughlin, a UMass professor who received a TIDE (Teaching for Inclusiveness, Diversity, and Equity) Ambassadorship for the campus because of his contributions in creating “Queer Lights,” states that the course provides new ways for teaching about inclusion.
“This course contributes to, and may be a new model for, addressing diversity, inclusion, and equity topics in the classroom,” McLaughlin said in a news release.
[RELATED: Conservatives win free speech fight against UMass Amherst]
UMass-Amherst made headlines earlier in 2018 when Young Americans for Liberty sued the school for a land use policy mandating that “outdoor speeches and rallies during class hours may be held only on the west side (main entrance) of the Student Union Building, and shall be limited to one (1) hour in length, from noon to 1:00 P.M.”
UMass-Amherst settled the lawsuit by scrapping the speech duration and location restrictions.
The school is also recognized as the birthplace of the “trigglypuff” meme during a 2016 speech given by anti-political correctness commentators Milo Yiannopoulos, Steven Crowder, and Christina Hoff Sommers.
[RELATED: UMass Amherst students throw temper tantrum at free speech event]
Campus Reform reached out to the Stonewall Center, the campus “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer, Intersex, and Asexual (LGBTQIA+) Resource Center” named on the flier, as well as the UMass-Amherst College Republicans, but received no comment in time for publication.
Follow the author of this article on Facebook: Cory Compton
