We hope you are having a very slay summer! Pride has begun and you’ve surely felt the monthly community power-up that Fox News is convinced we get. We don’t want to take too much of your prime Pride time away, so we’ll keep this supplemental summer Newsletter short.
This Summer
oSTEM Scholarship Program Now Open!
oSTEM’s Scholarship Program is comprised of over 30 different awards, totals more than $120,000 in scholarships, and just requires 1 application! Applications are open to undergraduate, graduate, and community college students pursuing a degree in a STEM field and identify as a member of the LGBTQ+ community.
Interested? Join our Slack Group (they found out last month)! Yeah, it’s a shameless group plug, but you’ll also find insider scholarship details, easily access peer readers for help, and connect with others who are also going to the O4U Conferences later this year. Apply!
Coming Up
Reminders
- Fall ‘23 GMM Availability: W2M
We want to accommodate the schedules of more than just the 3 E-Board and 1 general member (icon <3) shared so far when scheduling our regular Fall GMMs! Please fill out the quick survey linked above to let us know your availability for next semester!
In The News
• Human Rights Campaign Declares National State of Emergency: HRC Report
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the US’s largest LGBTQIA+ rights organization, declared a “national state of emergency” within the first week of June. This comes after months of anti-queer and anti-trans legislation booms across the country, 525 bills to be exact. Kelley Robinson (she/her), President of the HRC, wrote a foreword calling out the actions of lawmakers in states such as Texas, Florida, and Tennessee, bringing attention to the funding which these bills have received from conservative & far-right extremist groups. She also brings attention to the work of other states and lawmakers, such as Mauree Turner in Oklahoma, Michaela Cavanaugh in Nebraska, and Zooey Zephyr in Montana, who have used their positions to stand strong and fight for the rights of queer people. The remaining report gives a full breakdown of bills targeting the LGBTQIA+ community, escalation of violence against queer peoples, and responds to opponent's "Save the Children" focus. You can find the full report linked above, and explore the HRC homepage to keep up to date on more opinion pieces, breaking news, and active events. This pride, it is more important than ever to honor the work of those who came before us, remind ourselves that there is much to still be done, and fight the push to erase it. Our existence is not something to be debated.
Last Saturday, President Biden invited hundreds of LGBTQ+ people to the White House for a Pride Month celebration, acknowledging the HRC’s SOE, regressive legislation, and his administration’s plans to mitigate its impact. While it’s a nice juxtaposition to the state-sanctioned hostility and ignorance found elsewhere in the nation, it feels superficial when those sentiments remain only as words and not active legislation matching the brute force style adopted by politicians opposing our very existence.
The Stonewall Riots Anniversary is June 28, let's honor the historic rebellion by preventing the undoing of their contributions. A useful tool in doing this is political literacy, oSTEM at Brown compiled a great list of Critical Queer Studies readings that can guide you into further queer theory and politics. You’ll find some titles familiar because we’ve previously highlighted many of them (thanks to my Queer Theory professor, Janet Werther, icon <3). Feel free to use our highlights as introductions to them and our TFP page for legislation specifics, crisis hotlines, etc.
Whatcha Up To?
“So who else is gay here? I can’t interact with just straight people all day. Also, wdym I can’t end every email with “slayiana”? That’s homophobic! ”
- Ellie (to her monitor on her first day of work)
Hey queens! We at oSTEM are all about highlighting queer success, and that means you! Are you doing something awesome this summer? We want to hear about it! Use this link to fill out our short Google Form, and tell us all about your summer internship/research/volunteering! Then, we will share it with the world (well at least the other people who read these emails)!
Remember, there is no such thing as "showing off", you deserve all that you’ve worked for, and you have the right to be proud of it! Brag all you want about those amazing opportunities.
enjoy the rest of ur summer!! <3
FORM
oSTEM General Feedback Form
This is oSTEM's main form for you to submit any comments, questions, suggestions, opportunity submissions, and/or feedback. You can choose to submit anonymously (CCC may ask you to log in, but that's just to ensure it's from a UR student, not a random internet person) or share your name/email.
If you run into any issues with the form, please email us at uofr.ostem@gmail.com so we can fix it right away.
