Concept Application- Kate Nevanen

Spectrum and Sexual Identity

For concept application that goes along with my cultural group, Spectrum, I chose sexual identity. Sexual identity is one’s identification with various categories of sexuality. (Martin, 188) I think this was the obvious concept because Spectrum members are part of the LGBTQA community. I learned more about this culture by attending their weekly meetings and interviewing the president of the group. I saw their meetings and relationships with each other as ways they were able to better understand and communicate their sexual identity.

 

At a meeting I went to there were about 15 people there as well as three of the group’s leaders. To start off they always introduce themselves and say what pronouns they go by. For example I would say, “My name is Kate and I go by she and her pronouns.” This is a way they are respecting transgenderism which is a type of sexual identity. The vice-president announced a change in office hours at the Spectrum office. The office is open at any time for people to come in if they need a friend to talk to or a new member who needs help identifying with a group on campus. They also handed out free rainbow bracelets to wear as representations of their sexual identity, the LGBTQA community. Most of the meeting was a “gay jeopardy game” where the group was split into two halves. The categories in this jeopardy games were historical symbols, sexual identity flags, gender identity flags, miscellaneous symbols, and LGBT potpourri. There were questions that asked things like what third gender is, the difference in sexual flags, who famous members of the LGBT community are and symbols that represent sexual identity. Through these questions I saw many members learning things about their community or specific identity. They were able to exchange information about being gay or lesbian which I think helps them understand and explore their own sexual identity. This whole point of Spectrum and LGBTQA groups is to explore their own sexual identity and understand others. This meeting showed me how important Spectrum was to this community as a place to feel comfortable expressing themselves and learning new things.

I interviewed the president of Spectrum, Sam Zeitner, to get more insight on the group and how he was discovered his own sexual identity. Sam discovered his sexual identity, gay, when he was a senior in high school. It was hard to express himself because he went to a Catholic school where his identity is not exactly accepted. He was excited to come to Lincoln to find people he could associate himself with, so at the Big Red Welcome he went straight to the pride flag, Spectrum. Sam has worked on the Spectrum board for three years and hopes to continue to participate as much as possible when he graduates. He enjoys helping students who are just learning about themselves and their identity by bringing them into meetings. Sam said he help people understand their sexual identity by telling his story. By telling his struggles he went through people are open up to him about theirs in seek of help. Everyone has their own individual sexual identity and Sam realizes that each person in the group is going to be at a different level with their identity. The group tries to reach out to all students to find the ones who are looking for help discovering their identity. After my interview with Sam I was pleased to see the effort that was given by Spectrum on campus to help the LBGTAQ community and their sexual identities.

I had a great time with the members of Spectrum and getting to know the group as well as the community. Spectrum does a great job of helping people understand their sexual identities.