Feature
Spotlight
on a Student Activist:
UVM's Kellie Arbor
by Kerry Slora OITM Intern
In
one room there is a circle of faces formed on the red university carpet.
There are the eyes and voices of pre-op and post-op and the inquisitive,
and they are all talking about gender. At the same time, there is a group
gathered nearby questioning the government, inviting in socialist political
views as a new alternative in the struggle for gay liberation.
Later, in another room, twenty women are leaning into each other with laughter, shouting words like “pussy” and “dildo,” and downstairs, there are men gathered for their own safety lessons in latex, lube and love. Next door, a lesbian mother is speaking of her struggles and is met with understanding, and simultaneously those perceived as “old” or “young” are sitting together and learning how to bridge the generation gap.
Everyone then gathers in a rally to Stop The Hate, where the overlooked crimes committed against trans Americans are finally read aloud, and where students from UVM, Middlebury, Goddard, Trinity and area high schools exchange ideas and connect.
As night approaches, there is a gathering again on the red carpet, and the women there are feeding their desire to slam through the words of Alix Olsen. There are women binding their breasts and giving each other 5 o’clock shadows, and soon there are queer folk songs and queer poetry, and the words of George Michael’s Father Figure spouting from drag “priests” in compromising positions.
This was the joyous scene of gay visibility at the February 4 and 5 Vermont State Queer Conference held at UVM, and is the brainchild of UVM student and activist Kellie Arbor. “There aren’t enough loud voices at UVM,” says Arbor, a fourth-year English/Art major with a concentration in queer activism. “I am always looking for ways to motivate people to instigate… and I love to put on kick-ass programs!”
Originally from Rumford, Maine, (“a small town so everybody knows”), Arbor’s ultimate goal is to be the voice for underrepresented groups in the queer movement. With help from other members of the Conference Committee, she organized the gathering “to stop the hate in Vermont. . . in a fun, educational forum.” The committee itself was recently formed in the interest of having a queer radical group on campus that focuses on visibility, and its formation coincides with Arbor’s queer programming requirements through Workstudy. “They pay me to be queer,” she jokes, “which works out nice.”
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| Arbor was key in organizing the Vermont State Queer Conference held at University of Vermont in February. |
Through involvement with the UVM Free to Be GLBTA and the Vermont College GLBT Coalition, Arbor has noticed the impact of such groups and their involvement over the last few years. “Visibility at UVM has gotten much better . . . the out population of gays, lesbians and trans is increasing, and people are much more receptive.” Though she recognizes that the fight to instigate change has been met with its share of backlash at the university, Arbor remains motivated. “ There’s been a lot of hate thrown back at us . . . but our effort is making a difference.”
Upcoming events for celebration of Gaypril at UVM, including a lecture by trans activist and author Leslie Feinberg, are now the work-in-progress for Arbor and her fellow organizers. As for her final semester, in the Fall of 2000, Kellie Arbor hopes to expand her knowledge and practice of queer activism one step further by studying abroad in Amsterdam. “If I were a girl, I’d be princess of the Queers!” she laughs, but truthfully admits she just wants to continue to being visible, and encourage others to strive for the same.