By Tabitha Redder/managing editor
Fort Worth Pride Week is right around the corner, and NW’s We Are One and TR’s TREE clubs are ready to celebrate.
TCC students can attend an informational session about lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning culture Oct. 3, 6 and 15. Attendees must be 18 years old, and registration is required. To register, go to http://tccd.student-hub.com/.
TR drama students will honor Matthew Shepard 1-2 p.m. Oct. 6 in the Riverfront Café on TR Campus. Shepard was a student who was beaten and later died in 1998 because he was gay. Drama students will read poetry.
“We’ve been planning [Pride Week] since last semester,” said We Are One president Stephen Swartzendruber, who worked with TREE last year during its Pride Week. “I planned the drag show and helped plan some of the other events. I just carried on some of the same things to We Are One.”
Although We Are One is a fairly new club, it has organized several events for Pride Week in hopes of educating the school and public about the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning community and bringing awareness to campus.
The club will present a screening of the documentary Raid of the Rainbow Lounge 6-9 p.m. Oct. 8 in WSTU 1303-1305 on NW Campus. The film discusses the violence that occurred at the Fort Worth gay bar in 2009 on the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots. A Q&A with filmmaker Robert L. Camina and some present the night of the event will take place afterward.
“October is Gay History Month. That’s where I got the idea for that,” Swartzendruber said. “Fort Worth has a lot of gay history especially with the raid of the Rainbow Lounge. That’s a major event in gay history. It was national news.”
The We Are One club will round out the week by hosting a drag show 6-9 p.m. Oct. 9. The show will feature local professional performers, but students are welcome to perform too. Those interested should submit music and costume selections to stephen.swartzendruber@my.tccd.edu.
TR students can end their week participating in a campus pride parade 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Oct. 10. The parade will begin by Student Life, continue down TRTR Main Street and end at the Idea Store. There will be a biodegradable balloon releasing ceremony and a DJ.
We Are One will also march in the Fort Worth Pride Parade at noon Oct. 4.
For additional information about NW We Are One events, email evan.patton@tccd.edu.
