Raising awareness and generational support for area students improving the climate within their K-12 schools’ walls are the goals of the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh’s first Harvey Milk Commemorative Dinner on May 23.
“The University has a greater responsibility in this community to create a partnership and bring hope to the LGBTQ community,” said Thomas Wolf, assistant director of the LGBTQ Resource Center on campus.
The dinner will be held in Reeve Ballroom 227 and will honor the courage and spirit of Harvey Milk, a pioneering San Francisco city elected official whose activism set an example of how crucial education is to social change. Harvey Milk Day is organized by the Harvey Milk Foundation and celebrated annually on May 22 in memory of the gay rights activist and leader.
The event is a way to encourage and support all members and allies of the LGBTQ community at UW Oshkosh and in the Greater Fox Valley area, Wolf said. Beyond raising awareness, organizers hope to raise money for scholarships, which will provide funding to LGBTQ youth and for programs that improve the climate of the K-12 educational systems within the area, he said. Donations can also be made directly to the UW Oshkosh Foundation.
The dinner will feature speaker Mara Keisling, the founding executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality. Keisling is a transgender-identified woman and advocate for transgender equality whose work and message have been featured on CNN, CSPAN, in the New York Times, the Washington Post and hundreds of other national media.
The event is sponsored by the UW Oshkosh LGBTQ Resource Center, which was founded in the fall of 2008 with the overarching mission to offer programs and services to the surrounding community, both on and off campus.
Wolf said he hopes the commemorative event will grow and be held annually. He hopes scholarships and grants can be awarded at next year’s event.
“We just really want to let the LGBTQ community know that there are people out there who care for them,” Wolf said.
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