Safer Sex Cabaret spices up sex ed for UNO students
Noelle Lynn Blood
Issue date: 9/22/09 Section: News
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"The GSO put on the Safer Sex Cabaret because sex education, safe sex practices and learning to have a healthy sexual life are crucial to the development and well-being of us all," said Caitie Wegener, 21, a member of the GSO board. "Abstinence-only education has left our generation confused, afraid and uneducated about sex. Events like the Safer Sex Cabaret are desperately needed."
The Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender community is committed to providing sex education for all, she said.
Sponsoring organizations took turns presenting topic-specific information with punctuating drag performances between speakers.
Organizations that were represented included UNO Student Health Services; UNO Counseling Services, which presented on healthy relationships; Omaha's YWCA, which presented on domestic violence; Planned Parenthood; the Nebraska AIDS Project, which presented on safe sex practices and getting tested; and the UNO Women's Resource Center, which presented on the importance of active sexual consent.
"Active consent is about re-framing discussions on sexual consent from strictly 'no means no' to a model which states that anything less than active participation is not consensual," said Rachel Tomlinson Dick, director of the Women's Resource Center. "It's about moving the conversation to 'yes means yes.'"
Drag performers were Nicolette NuVogue, Chandler Chubbs and Dominique Divamoore. Dominique did a moving tribute to gay rights and gay marriage while lip-synching to "I'm Not Ready to Make Nice" by the Dixie Chicks. She held up signs reading, "Iowa gets it. When will Nebraska?" She also had a sign emblazoned with the name "Matthew Shepard," a young gay man who was murdered for his sexuality in 1998.
"Half of the students seemed to really enjoy the drag queens," Wegener said, "while the other half clearly had never seen a drag show before. It was good for them to experience something so new and outside their own experiences."
The event had a great turnout, she said, with more than 150 people in the audience.
"Between the speakers, drag performances, good food and sex education, I'd say it was a huge success and everyone had a lot of fun," Wegener said. "Because good, healthy sex - well, that's fun!"
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