A group of Brown University students appear to be preparing an on-campus workshop in which “queer” participants will separate by race to work past their sexual attraction to Caucasians.

We “find ourselves falling always for the white queers... wishing we could have more agency in the process, be more intentional about who we desire and how,” reads the official Facebook description of the event.

“We are invested in generating a politics of sexuality that compels us to interrogate beauty as privilege and constructed by systems of white supremacy, ableism, capitalism, and heteronormativity,” it continues.

The Facebook page states the event is to take place in the Crystal Room at Brown University on April 8 from 6-7:30 p.m. The workshop called “Protect me from what I want: a workshop on privilege, power, and desire” is sponsored by an organization called the Comprehensive Allyship Network, according to the Facebook event page.

After two artistic performances, participants will apparently be directed to separate between [People of Color] POCs and Caucasians before continuing the discussion.

“We will break into POC and White caucus groups for a part of the workshop to unpack some of our specific experiences of racialized desire,” reads the event description. “This will be an intentional, anti-racist, and feminist space.”

From the Facebook page, it is unclear exactly which student group is hosting the event other than the Comprehensive Allyship Network, which is not listed as an official student organization.

Kelly Garrett, Coordinator of the LGBTQ Center at Brown University, acknowledged the event in an email to Campus Reform, but said did she not have any further details. The Brown University Events department and the Student Activities department told Campus Reform they were unaware of the event.

Students organizing the event, however, appear to attend Brown University and apparently have hosted similar events in the past, such as the Comprehensive Allyship Network. At time of publication, 899 students been invited, 117 had RSVP’d as attending, and 61 had replied “maybe.”

Student organizers did not respond to Campus Reform’s requests for comment in time for publication.



Follow the author of this article: @TimPDion.