Wednesday 11 October (Coming Out Day!), the Pride Symposium "Wellbeing and Joy" took place. Let's look back on a successful and inspiring event, where we also emphasised again that there is much work to be done.
After a tasty vegetarian lunch and first networking opportunity, the day started with a welcome speech by Anka Mulder (chair of Executive Board Saxion) and was opened by Ank Bijleveld (Twenteboard). She emphasised that diversity and inclusion are going to contribute a lot to Twente's happiness. An invitation to make Twente even more beautiful together. This was followed by a good conversation with Machteld Roos (vice-president UT Executive Board) on how to make UT even more inclusive, with both practical matters (such as toilets for all users) and the necessary culture change.
We then learned more about the well-being of the LGBTQ+ community in general and how to measure this. Tessa Dekkers gave context to the concept of well-being and how absence of mental illness does not yet mean that someone immediately feels mentally well. Jan Behrens then explained how to measure wellbeing of the LGBTQ+ community, using her own master's thesis (in development). Maren Behrensen then offered a critical reflection on how policies around well-being can actually be a tool to maintain existing power structures. Systemic change is needed, but our current social system is built on a cisheteronormative foundation. This block ended with a panel featuring all the speakers; a completely genderqueer panel, a first!
After a short break, all participants could join in building a future with Lego under the guidance of Wiro Kuipers. People got to work in groups of four. First, everyone built their own “awesomeness” and then the groups got together to build larger structures depicting how queers and straights can work together for a future of broadly shared well-being. Bridges were built, doors were open and the Lego figures were chatting pleasantly with each other.
After this fun activity, we zoomed in on businesses; how can they be LGBTQ+ inclusive? Marco Strijks and Christoph Hinske talked about new business models and revealed that diversity can bring a lot to businesses. Renan Machado Cardoso talked about how Eaton makes their inclusion policy tangible and how they got to this point. The afternoon ended with a presentation by Ronja Kreiter who talked about her expectations on the job market from a student and queer perspective. But of course, the afternoon was only really complete after contact details and fresh ideas were shared at the networking drinks.
Hopefully you enjoyed it too and we will see you again at one of the next events! And know where to find us (both within UT and Saxion) if you have any ideas, suggestions or resources to share.
The Pride Symposium was set up by Think with Pride UT and Think with Pride Saxion as part of the Rainbow Days Enschede. All presentations are available for download on our website. Photo credit to Floor Vinke
