New UW student organization to create space for queer and trans people of color on campus The Badger Herald

A newly founded student organization aims to create a space for those who feel out of place in the predominantly white queer communities at the University of Wisconsin.

Queer and trans people of color, also known as QTPOC, was conceived when a group of friends started sharing their experiences as queer and trans people of color, said Daniel Sanji, UW student and co-founder of QTPOC.

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“A lot of the other founding members and I are friends who have a mutual experience of not feeling like we can’t access some of the resources here on campus for queer and trans students because we’ve seen that they were predominantly white and addressed to a white majority. public, ”Sanji said.

Crossroads director Tiffany Lee also helped train QTPOC, Sanji said. crossroads is a collaboration between the UW Multicultural Student Center and the UW University Center on Gender and Sexuality for Queer and Trans People of Color.

While Crossroads is an academic initiative, QTPOC is the first such student organization at UW, Sanji said.

Sanji said QTPOC hopes to invite guest speakers, as well as regular meetings and discussions as part of its programming. Over the past few months, QTPOC has mainly focused on the process of becoming a registered student organization and reflecting on the mission of the group.

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“We understand that even with a focus on queer and trans people of color, there are significant cultural differences,” said Sanji. “Reaching out to Black, African American and Latin American, Native American or Native students, as well as students from the Middle East and of Asian descent, was really important, so a fairly large coalition of queer and trans people of color was involved. . “

Often, institutions will conflate queer and trans people, or ignore the experience of queer and trans people of color. UW can support queer and trans people of color by supporting initiatives that recognize the intersectionality of the two identities, Sanji said.

The group’s kick-off meeting will take place on December 2 at 6 p.m. at the Red Gym.