GLBTAA welcomes all to its 1st homecoming party this weekend

The first IU Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Alumni Association Homecoming will take place in Bloomington this weekend, in conjunction with the PRIDE LGBTQ Film Festival, an annual event that has a reputation for bringing large crowds to town.

Between Jan. 30 and Feb. 1, the event will feature a full schedule of events, activities and social opportunities.

The festivities kick off with a Homecoming Social at the Kinsey Institute Gallery on Friday evening and continue on Saturday with a silent auction and hors d’oeuvres at Grazie! Italian Eatery. The weekend will close on Sunday with brunch in the Tudor Room at the Indiana Memorial Union.

“I expect that the silent auction and reception at Grazie! will be particularly successful,” said Rachael Crouch, director of Alumni Programs for the IU Alumni Association. “It’s on a Saturday night and should be tons of fun.”

The board of the GLBTAA planned the homecoming to feed off of the PRIDE LGBTQ Film Festival and to turn the weekend into a must-attend event that will encourage GLBT alumni to come back to Bloomington and reconnect with their friends and allies.

“The PRIDE festival has become a real draw to many people; the event is usually sold out,” said Doug Bauder, office coordinator of the GLBT Student Support Services. “We hope that the two events will piggyback off of each other this year and generate even more popularity.”

Proceeds from the homecoming, particularly from the silent auction, will benefit the GLBTAA’s scholarship fund, which supports students who get cut off from financial and emotional aid for being honest with their parents about their sexual identity.

This scholarship fund is a large part of what the GLBTAA does.

“The organization is an advocacy group that supports GLBT students and works to foster relationships with GLBT folks and allies,” Bauder said.

The association does this by planning social events, locally and globally, for people who care about GLBT issues.

The purpose of the GLBTAA Homecoming is to create an event that will bring in a different sector of alumni than the traditional IU football homecoming does in the fall.

“We want to give folks a reason to come back to Bloomington, and many GLBT members will probably benefit from an alternative to the traditional football weekend,” Crouch said.

GLBT members and non-members alike are encouraged to attend this year’s GLBTAA Homecoming and support this advocacy group in its efforts to spread the word about gay rights.

“This is going to be an encouraging year,” said Rob DeCleene, president of GLBTAA. “We have the first-ever GLBTAA Homecoming, and Bloomington was named the nation’s No. 1 small town for gays.”