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Thursday, March 28, 2024

LGBT researcher speaks at Cymplify Central Pride event

<p class="p1">Leading LGBT researcher Elizabethe Payne speaks to a room of UF students and educators at a lecture held at Cymplify Central at 5402 NW Eighth Ave. for Gainesville Pride Days.</p>

Leading LGBT researcher Elizabethe Payne speaks to a room of UF students and educators at a lecture held at Cymplify Central at 5402 NW Eighth Ave. for Gainesville Pride Days.

In anticipation for Saturday’s Pride Parade, a group of about 20 people gathered at Cymplify Central’s small coffee shop and listened to leading LGBT researcher Elizabethe Payne speak.

Payne traveled from her post as founder and director of the Queering Education Research Institute at New York City’s Hunter College on Tuesday night to discuss the importance of restructuring school culture to better address LGBT bullying.

Local LGBT activist groups chipped in to pay Payne about $800 for her discussion, which took place at 5402 NW Eighth Ave. Six organizations were involved in co-sponsoring the event, including UF LGBT Affairs and the Pride Community Center of North Central Florida.

According to Payne’s studies, the No. 1 cause for bullying is appearance, followed by an individual’s perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.

Tessa Arthur, a marketing sophomore, is an LGBT Affairs ambassador and marketing director within the external cabinet for UF’s Pride Student Union.

“In my high school, one lesbian in my grade had to drop out for mental health issues,” Arthur, 20,  said. “LGBT students are more susceptible to emotional toll from harsh words because usually, there’s internalized shame about being LGBT.”

LB Hannahs, director of LGBT Affairs, had Payne as a professor while attending Syracuse University and is involved with Payne’s institute. 

“When we talk about LGBT bullying, we tend to think of it in the context of K-12, (and) we tend to stop talking about bullying on college campuses, but it still happens, and we don’t think about it in the same way,” Hannahs said.

Forming Gay-Straight Alliance groups and creating safe spaces and character education are some forms of fostering cultural changes in school environments, but Payne said she worries school curriculums rely too heavily on students to create change.

“Days chosen to celebrate LGBT people are often associated with days marking victimizations, disease and murder,” Payne said. “We need to give LGBT youth the idea that they have the ability to grow up with happy, healthy and whole lives.”

[A version of this story ran on page 1 on 10/22/2014]

Leading LGBT researcher Elizabethe Payne speaks to a room of UF students and educators at a lecture held at Cymplify Central at 5402 NW Eighth Ave. for Gainesville Pride Days.

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