[Special Feature: Looking Toward CGS's 10th Anniversary]
Yudai SHIMIZU
ICU graduate (ID 05)
[The article below is the same as the article that appears in the sixteenth issue of the CGS Newsletter.]
ICU graduates often tell us that the knowledge and experience gained through their involvement in CGS activities have proved invaluable in their life after university. One graduate, Yudai Shimizu, shares his experiences as a founding member of ICU's LGBIT club Sumposion.
I founded Sumposion with my friends at ICU in 2005, only a short time after the establishment of CGS.
Although ICU did have a student club for sexual minorities before this, it was mainly a social club and not concerned with organizing activities around issues affecting sexual minorities in general.
Discrimination relating to sexual orientation and sexual identity exists even at ICU, a university that so prioritizes human rights that it compels the entire student body to pledge allegiance to the Universal Declaration on Human Rights upon matriculation. It was through taking classes on gender and sexuality at ICU, as well as discussions in the communication-friendly space provided by CGS, that my friends and I realized the importance of taking action to effect change. Such were the origins of Sumposion.
Since its foundation, Sumposion has worked toward resolving issues affecting LGBTs on campus, including campus toilets, changing rooms, and discriminatory remarks by professors. In addition, we have organized lectures and reading groups, in an effort to reach out, beyond the university, to the wider community. CGS has supported us in each step of our journey.
Looking back now, I think we were greatly empowered by the presence of CGS, proudly displaying its rainbow flag on campus. Having marked its tenth anniversary, CGS is growing further in significance today. I am confident that CGS will continue to fly that rainbow flag and fulfill its role as the hub of activism for all kinds of gender and sexuality issues.