On Jan. 8, students and faculty members spoke on their experiences in the LGBTQ+ community during Sacramento Country Day’s third annual Queer Voices Panel, held in the Matthews Library.
High School English Department Chair Jason Hinojosa hosted the panel.
“The queer panel is meant to show the dark side of being LGBTQ+ while being balanced with some joyful experiences,” Hinojosa said.
Students in his Advanced Topics English class were tasked to create a slide representing media that they found interesting or inspiring in the queer community. Students contributed media–ranging from photos of actor Angelina Jolie to an ancient Chinese poem reading, “Ru Yan Fei (“dream of the red chamber”) by Wu Zao–culminating in an empowering collective slideshow.
With a significant increase of attendees since previous years, the panel lasted about an hour. The LGBTQ+ volunteers sat in front of the library and were asked questions about their experiences. They were asked questions from Hinojosa as well as the crowd.
Questions included “What is it like to be queer inside and outside of Country Day?” and “What was it like coming out of the closet?”
The panelists shared heartfelt answers, describing both current and past experiences.
Junior Ash Laplaca, co-president of the Gender and Sexuality Alliance, was one of the panelists.
“I enjoy speaking in front of people, and I love talking to people about things that don’t get addressed as much,” Laplaca said.
