Co-sponsors included the Department of Gender and Women’s Studies, Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs, College of Humanities, CSUN’s feminist student group The F Word, Department of Communication Studies and Department of Queer Studies. The event was organized by the Women’s Research and Resource Center, in collaboration with the USU. Opening the event was a great honor for her, as she deeply respects and admires Gay, Watkins added. “With Roxane’s audience, I specifically wanted to share a poem that acknowledges both of us being bisexual black women,” Watkins said. Watkins first performed the piece at the 2016 Bi Visibility Day at the White House. “She is so open about her past and a very inspiring person,” said Jennifer Marin, a freshman and child development major who attended the event.Īctress and poet Yazmin Monet Watkins kicked off the event with her poem Dear Straight People, which dealt with sexuality and race. She is still suffering from the traumatic experience today, Gay said, and she recounted how she tracked down the perpetrators as part of the healing process. Gay shared with the audience that she was assaulted at the age of 12 and in the aftermath, she started eating and gaining weight. “This was one of the most difficult writing experiences of my life.” “I wanted to tell the story of my body in my own words, instead of having people judge me,” Gay said.
