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USF P.R.I.D.E. Alliance welcomes transgender speaker

Posted by ppolatas ⋅ April 20, 2011 ⋅ Leave a Comment

Filed Under events, lgbt, p.r.i.d.e., PRIDE Alliance, Student Life, students, transgender, University of South Florida, USF, usf office of multicultural affairs

On Wednesday April 13, the University of South Florida‘s P.R.I.D.E. Alliance welcomed Jessica Pettitt, a transgender, who spoke and joked on the heavy issues of diversity and social judgment.

This is the second transgender event I have gone to in the past year. The first event I ever attended was in December of 2010, where I listened to the heartbreaking stories of Giana Love and a few other women. That event was a candle lit visual for remembering all of the transgendered lost to bullying and social pressures.

Jessica Pettitt’s event, however, was an outline of a lot of the same material, but was made fluffy and light by her sense of humor. Pettitt talked on issues from gender identity to sexual identity and breaking the binary.

The speech Pettitt gave even inspired me, a non-transgender; it made me feel like I had a lot to believe in. It was uplifting when she told the audience that we all are unique.

USF P.R.I.D.E. members were scattered among the crowd, but the club was surprisingly not the sponsor. Instead, the Office of Multicultural Affairs was responsible for bring this diverse guest on campus.

Pettitt’s speech was an enjoyable experience to both hear and watch. The entire crowd, myself included, were constantly laughing — a clear indicator that her words were easily understood. She came to USF and I believe she broke down some little barriers that stood between the USF students and their acceptance of diversity in the form of gender identity and orientation.

About ppolatas

I am a student at the University of South Florida currently within the Mass Communications college. In the future, I would like to be part of a major corporations advertising and marketing team.

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