OUTPolitik and the Struggle for LGBTQ Equality

As the world morphs, so does OUTPolitik. The Harris School’s organization for LGBTQ students continues to provide safe social spaces. But it also highlights public policy affecting its members, said Angie D’Souza, MPP’20, “because in the real world, queer identity intersects so many other identities and policy issues.”

This embrace of social and social-responsibility roles makes OUTPolitik (pronounced OUT-pohl-eh-TEEK) “sort of unique at Harris,” said D’Souza, the group’s 2019-2020 co-president, a role she shared with James Johnson MPP’20.

In the OUTPolitik community, social events allow people to be their authentic selves whether out or not, said D’Souza and Ricardo Saucedo, MPP Class of 2021 and OUTPolitik’s incoming president, in a late June phone interview.

At the same time, D’Souza added, “queer people are everywhere so  every single policy issue affects us or we are interested in it.”

“The queer community is,” she added, “not a singular community. I actually typically say ‘queer communities’ because there so many different communities that make up the alphabet soup rainbow that we are in.”

While foremost a Harris student organization out to foster, the group’s Facebook page says, “a community of future policy professionals interested in issues affecting the LGBTQ community,” OUTPolitik’s interests go beyond the University of Chicago campus. Its reach extends into Chicago, particularly the South Side, said Saucedo, and “in order to stand for our community and be there in arms with one another, you have to also address the national issues.” Support for the Black community during recent social justice protests is one such example. Additionally, the 2019-2020 OUTPolitik Board was the first to include international students, D’Souza said.

“We can,” she added, “have conversations that bring in local perspectives while also broadening the conversation to national and international, which I think really reflects the people at the table so on our board and our membership and our larger constituency at Harris [as well as showing] how ubiquitous queer issues are.”

OUTPolitik’s evolution demonstrates its flexibility when it comes to mission, with “flexibility” something of a byword for the group.  Reenergized in 2016 after a dormant period, OUTPolitik emerged as a community for queer students at Harris, D’Souza said. By 2018, it began to also spotlight LGBTQ issues in public policy.  It isn’t rigid about membership numbers. While membership is steadily growing, people come and go, Saucedo said. Nor is it tied to structure. Last school year there was a shared presidency. For 2020-2021, the group reverted to a president/vice president format. When not in the midst of a pandemic, it hosts social events including Pub and Chill as well as a send-off for graduates and panels on topics ranging from housing to public health. It also collaborates with other Harris groups including Black Action in Public Policy Studies (BAPPS), Minorities in Public Policy Studies (MiPPS) and Prairie State Society (PSS) on Illinois in Color, an event that explores representation, power and political strategy in Illinois for marginalized groups.

 OUTPolitik hopes to continue Illinois in Color in 2021, though what the next school year will look like remains uncertain. Murky outlook aside, Saucedo said he wants to build on OUTPolitik’s momentum.

“OUTPolitik,” he added, “is something bigger than it appears to be.”

Amid the recent civil unrest and the ongoing pandemic — which shuttered classrooms and halted most social activities  — the usual monthlong celebration for the LGBTQ community in June, was instead a challenging and “very weird time,” said Saucedo.

“Pride is usually a very joyful month,” he said. “But given everything going on it doesn’t seem right to be celebrating and rejoicing in the same light, understanding that injustice is occurring.”

“You really see,” he said, “what is happening to your brothers and sisters out there. I think it’s important to take what you have, your privilege, your position … your voice and transcend it, especially now more than ever.”

“Pride is usually a very joyful month,” he said. “But given everything going on it doesn’t seem right to be celebrating and rejoicing in the same light, understanding that injustice is occurring.”

This Pride Month is particularly poignant, D’Souza said, and has been a time for reflection and growth. There is great need, she said, “in celebrating and feeling joy where we have gains. … But the fight isn’t over.”

One element of that fight, she said, “is knowing when to amplify someone else’s voice and when to be the one screaming.”

“If it wasn’t for OUTPolitik,” Saucedo added, “who would be … bringing the concern of queer lives to the table?” The group, he said, provides a lens on problems that’s unmatched in other Harris student organizations.

One example of that, D’Souza said, was when OUTPolitik stepped in last year to push for action on a stalled university-wide movement to include students’ pronouns of reference on class rosters.

OUTPolitik took the issue to Harris Dean Katherine Baicker and Kate Shannon Biddle, the dean of students, D’Souza said.

 “While Harris struggles with a lot of diversity issues,” she said, “Harris leadership has also done a good job in some arenas. And I think that one thing that we did was sit down with leadership and say … ‘How can we take the success that Harris has had in certain diversity issues and advocate for students more broadly on campus as well’.”

“OUTPolitik,” Saucedo said, “is something bigger than it appears to be.”

Work on the pronoun effort is to be completed this summer. “I think,” D’Souza said, “it’s a good example of how student organizations can work with Harris leadership to have a bigger impact.”

“It’s very clear through my time at Harris,” she added, “that our group is needed and necessary.”