Application have been opened for Coordinator and Commissioner proposals for 2012/2013.  They can be found here.  Applications will are due April 9th, 2012 at 4:00pm.  For more details, please click here.

CREATOR OF THE ‘IT GETS BETTER’ PROJECT AND ‘SAVAGE LOVE’ COLUMN

DAN SAVAGE GREW UP IN “A LOUD, ARGUMENTATIVE, AND VERY CATHOLIC” FAMILY, AND CAME OUT AS GAY AS FRUIT COCKTAIL.

ORIGINALLY KNOWN AS A GAY-SEX COLUMNIST, HE IS NOW A HOUSEHOLD NAME THANKS TO HIS IT GETS BETTER VIDEO PROJECT ON YOUTUBE. THE PROJECT, WHICH HAS GAINED IMMENSE POPULARITY SINCE ITS CREATION IN MID SEPTEMBER 2010, ASKS PEOPLE TO MAKE AND UPLOAD SHORT POSITIVE VIDEOS ABOUT THEIR EXPERIENCES ABOUT THE LGBT COMMUNITY. MILLIONS HAVE VIEWED THE VIDEOS AND PARTICIPATED SO FAR, INCLUDING PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA AND ENTERTAINER JANET JACKSON. ADVERTISING AGE HAS CALLED IT GETS BETTER ONE OF THE TOP SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGNS OF 2010. HIS NEW BOOK IS TITLED, IT GETS BETTER: COMING OUT, OVERCOMING BULLYING AND CREATING A LIFE WORTH LIVING.

IN JUNE 2011, SAVAGE WON A WEBBY SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD FROM THE INTERNATIONAL ACADEMY OF DIGITAL ARTS AND SCIENCES FOR THE PROJECT. A MONTH LATER, SAVAGE WAS NAMED ONE OF THE 2011 “POWER 50” AS WELL AS THE “OUT 100” BY OUT MAGAZINE FOR THE CAMPAIGN’S TREMENDOUS IMPACT ON THE LGBT COMMUNITY AND WAS ALSO SELECTED FOR O, THE OPRAH MAGAZINE’S 2011 O WOW! LIST OF BREAKTHROUGH ACHIEVERS.

IN 1991 HE WAS THE NIGHT MANAGER AT AN INDEPENDENT VIDEO STORE IN MADISON, WISCONSIN, WHEN A CO-WORKER TOLD HIM HE WAS PLANNING TO MOVE TO SEATTLE AND START A NEW ALTERNATIVE NEWSPAPER. SAVAGE, A SELF-DESCRIBED “PUSHY BUSYBODY,” REPLIED, “YOU HAVE TO HAVE AN ADVICE COLUMN. EVERYBODY HATES THEM, BUT EVERYBODY READS THEM.” AND SUDDENTY SAVAGE, WHO’D NEVER CONSIDERED HIMSELF A WRITER BEFORE, WAS A SNARKY “DEAR ABBY” FOR THE SEXUALLY ACTIVE.

SAVAGE’S COLUMN, “SAVAGE LOVE,” FIRST APPEARED IN 1991, IN THE FIRST ISSUE OF THE STRANGER. READERS OF ANY SEXUAL PERSUASION WERE INVITED TO SEEK SAVAGE’S PITHY ADVICE WITH THE SALUTATION “HEY FAGGOT,” AN ATTEMPT BY SAVAGE TO MAKE THE WORD MORE SOCIALLY ACCEPTABLE. IN 1999, SAVAGE ANNOUNCED HE’D GROWN WEARY OF “HEY FAGGOT,” POSSIBLY BECAUSE A LOT OF READERS THOUGHT “HEY FAGGOT” NOT “SAVAGE LOVE” WAS THE NAME OF THE COLUMN.

THE ONCE-A-WEEK COLUMN IS FUNNY, INFORMATIVE, OUTRAGEOUS, NON-JUDGMENTAL (ABOUT CONSENTING SEX ACTS), AND VERY JUDGMENTAL (ABOUT MORONIC LETTER-WRITERS). “SAVAGE LOVE” IS NOW SYNDICATED TO BETTER ALTERNATIVE WEEKLIES ACROSS AMERICA.

SAVAGE IS THE AUTHOR OF THE COMMITMENT: LOVE, SEX, MARRIAGE, AND MY FAMILY, SKIPPING TOWARDS GOMORRAH: THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS IN AMERICA’S MOST POPULAR SEX COLUMNIST, AND THE KID: WHAT HAPPENED AFTER MY BOYFRIEND AND I DECIDED TO GO PREGNANT. THE LATTER BOOK TELLS HOW SAVAGE AND HIS BOYFRIEND ADOPTED THEIR SON FROM HIS WILLING MOTHER, A “SPARE-CHANGING GUTTER PUNK.” IT IS ALSO THE INSPIRATION FOR THE UPCOMING MUSICAL FROM THE PRODUCERS OF AVENUE Q, WHICH WILL HAVE ITS DEBUT IN THE 2009-2010 SEASON FOR THE NEW YORK-BASED NEW GROUP THEATER COMPANY.

“IF THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT REALLY WANTED TO STOP GAY SEX … THEY SHOULD GET BEHIND GAY PEOPLE ADOPTING, BECAUSE NOTHING PUTS A STOP TO GAY SEX FASTER.”

IN ADDITION TO WRITING HIS COLUMN, SAVAGE IS NOW THE EDITOR OF THE STRANGER. HE’S ALSO ACTIVE IN THE THEATRE, DIRECTING QUEER PLAYS AS KEENAN HOLLAHAN. KEENAN IS SAVAGE’S MIDDLE NAME, AND HOLLAHAN IS HIS GRANDMOTHER’S MAIDEN NAME.

Click here for more information and links to the It Gets Better Project Homepage

Due to today’s weather conditions, tonight’s Pride Film has been cancelled.  Stay safe and enjoy the snow day!

The relocation process for the USC Support Services Centre is nearly complete! Please be advised that UCC-258 is now closed and the PrideWestern administrative office has officially relocated to the new Centre.  All programming scheduled to be held in UCC-258 will now be held in UCC-38 unless otherwise noted on the events page.

The Centre will be open for limited hours very soon and then for full 9-5 Mon-Fri (or better) hours as soon as the security system is ready and furniture is all delivered. Full update under the tab on the right side of this page. Thanks for your patience while we strive to make an amazing new space at UWO!

-Your USC Support Services Team

PrideWestern,

Seating for our Judy Shepard event can now be reserved at www.judyatwestern.ca!   Seating for students, faculty and staff of UWO is completely free just provide your student/faculty/staff number and we will guarantee you a spot.  Outside patrons pay only $5 at infosource or $7 online.  Reserve as soon as possible, event is sure to sell out.

For more info on Judy or Matthew Shepard visit www.matthewshepard.org

Hello Western,

As you know PrideWestern is committed to hosting the best Canadian University campus Pride Week possible, and this year we have a whole line up of exciting events.  Pride Week will be happening Monday October 11th to Friday October 15th throughout Western’s campus.  We will have information booths from our community partners set up in the atrium for students to drop by and learn more about what’s going on in London’s LGBT community as well as an on-campus coffeehouse, movie night, discussion group and a few other surprises so make sure you stay tuned to www.pridewestern.ca for the latest info.  We hope to see you out sporting your “Gay is OK!” button and enjoying your week on campus.

As many of you have probably already heard, Western will be hosting JUDY SHEPARD for a discussion this semester.  The event is coming up on TUESDAY OCTOBER 19th in HSB 40.  More details to come but make sure you mark your calendars for this landmark presentation.

Hey Everyone,

I certainly hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful weather we’ve been enjoying all weekend! With the seasons changing, so is PrideWestern and I’m proud to share some exciting news and final details about the last few events this semester.

Coordinator Selection

First of all, a congratulations to our new PrideWestern Coordinator: Jacob MacArthur! Jacob has been very involved with PrideWestern this year serving as our Director of Large Social Events. He shows a great amount of passion for the position and is very knowledgeable in the operations of the service. Jacob has some great new ideas for the coming year and is committed to maintaining and developing the parts of PrideWestern that we all love! I’m excited to begin Jacob’s transition to Coordinator and feel confident that he will do an amazing time!

Furthermore, a congratulations to Amy Sorensen, our new AllyWestern Coordinator! Amy has also been involved with PrideWestern this year, stepping in second term to fill the position of Director of Small Social Events after helping out behind the scenes first term. Her entheusiasm, amazing personality and dedication will be a real asset to the AllyWestern program. Expect to see some big changes to Ally in the coming year! For more information or to get involved e-mail Amy at asorens@uwo.ca

Executive Selection 2010/2011 & AGM

As the year draws to a close there a few important items that PrideWestern still has to complete. The first is our Annual General Meeting (AGM) which will take place this Thursday April 8th at 6pm in UCC 369, we hope to see as many of you out as possible as we sum up the year and give an outlook as to our plans for the upcoming academic year. The second important item is our executive applications for next year. Below is a list of the positions that will be open, if you are interested please forward your resume and cover letter stating why you wish to hold this position and some of your preliminary ideas for the portfolio to usc.pride@uwo.ca. The deadline for executive applications will be this Friday April 9th at 5pm. Here are the positions available:

-Finance and Administration Director – works to maintain the financial framework of PrideWestern, creating and reviewing budgets and transactions as well as keeping minutes for all meetings throughout the year.
-Activism Director – promotes an open and accepting university community through programming (such as discussion groups) and advocacy campaigns as well as coordinates any guest speakers for the upcoming year.
-Social Director, Large Events – coordinates our large social events, primarily relating to Rainbow Revolution and Pride Ball as well as assists in creating an events calendar with the Social Director of Small Events.
-Social Director, Small Events – coordinates our small social events, primarily relating to coffeehouses and movie nights as well as assists in creating an events calendar with the Social Director of Large Events.
-Electronic Communications Director – works to update and maintain the PrideWestern website, mailing list, Facebook and Twitter accounts on an ongoing basis.
-Print Communications Director – designs all posters for events and programming corresponding to PrideWestern as well as acts as editor-in-chief of the Pride Zine.
-Public Relations Director – Contribute on a large scale to the planning and carrying out of Clubs/Services week as well as Pride Week, act as a liason between PrideWestern, the campus community and the community of London at large.
-Graduate Student Representative – Act as a liason between SOGS (Society of Graduate Students), the Queer Caucus and PrideWestern as well as carry out programming specifically targeting Graduate students.

The position of First Year Representative will be open this upcoming September.

We hope that everyone interested will apply! If you have any questions please forward them to usc.pride@uwo.ca

Ally Training

There will be one final Ally training happening tomorrow (Tuesday) at 5pm in UCC-373. All are welcome to attend!

Summer Events

PrideWestern is hoping to offer more events during the summer this year. Do you have an event that you’d like to see this summer? E-mail usc.pride@uwo.ca and let us know!

And now you’re up to date! Again, congratulations to our new Coordinators! We hope to see you out at our AGM to hear about whats new and give Feedback on Thursday. And be sure to e-mail us your application if you are interested in getting involved with PrideWestern next year!

Have a great day and all the luck on exams!

–
Johnathan Sawicki
PrideWestern Coordinator

Hey Everyone!

Johnathan, your PrideWestern Coordinator, here with an update about the future of PrideWestern.

Its that time of year again when we start to build the PrideWestern team for the upcoming academic year. It might seem early but this is a large service to run and requires a top-notch team to continue to offer the amazing services we’re currently running.

After a lot of thought and consideration I have decided that I will not be applying for a second term as PrideWestern Coordinator. I’ve been given an amazing opportunity for an international exchange for the fall term and have decided to accept the offer. With that being said, it is now time to select who will take on the position for next year!

Applications will be available from the USC offices (3rd floor UCC) any day now and will be due in approx 2 weeks for anyone interested. If you would like more information on the position, I encourage you to e-mail me at usc.pride@uwo.ca

Executive applications will be available shortly after, with results being announced at our AGM in the last week of classes before exams. This is a great way to get involved for a variety of different positions. Involvement is minimal in the summer, but will officially start during O-Week.

I’d like to take this opportunity to say thank you to everyone who has supported me in my position this year. It is safe to say this has been a very successful year, and our service is getting larger and stronger than ever before. I’m very proud and honoured to have contributed and cannot wait to be back next January to continue my involvement.

Sincerely,

-Johnathan Sawicki
PrideWestern Coordinator

It was brought to our attention yesterday that the discussion board previously attached to the older version of our website, (which was redone over the summer), was still online, and had been attacked by some sort of hacking program, that had flooded the discussion board with inappropriate content.

This discussion board has not been a part of the new website found on this page, and we were largely unaware that it was active at all. Upon realizing the discussion board was active, we removed it as quickly as we could (within 45 minutes).

It was an oversight that the domain containing the old discussion board was not removed completely, and for that PrideWestern sincerely apologizes. We had no idea of the risks posed by leaving a discussion board unmoderated, and are investigating to ensure that no similar hacking incidents can occur in the future. We are regretful that part of our website was abused in the way that it was, but hopeful that this can help other website managers prevent a similar incident from occuring in the future.

Please direct questions to either:
Johnathan Sawicki, PrideWestern Coordinator (usc.pride@uwo.ca), or
Will Bortolin, USC VP Campus Issues, (usc.campus.issues@uwo.ca, 519-661-3574)