Blurred lines
LGBTQ speaker Robyn Ochs illustrates how complex gender and sexuality can be at UND lecture
Humans are complicated. And human sexuality and gender identity are complicated.
It’s a point activist and international speaker Robyn Ochs emphasized during her recent visit to UND as part of “National Coming Out Week.”
Ochs has given her “Beyond Binaries” talk approximately 2,000 times in 46 states and 15 countries. Ochs’ most recent visit to UND was her fifth and drew about 50 people to Wilkerson Commons to hear her speak.
Ochs said UND is moving in the right direction when it comes to respect for people regardless of sexuality and gender.
“On this campus, I’ve seen some positive trends over the years” said Ochs. “I believe that’s reflective of changes happening in general society. We are moving to greater acceptance of LGBTQ people, and a more complex understanding of gender and sexuality.”
Ochs said she also admired that UND is working toward hiring a dedicated on-campus LGBTQ resource coordinator, but she also knows there’s more that needs to be done at UND and beyond.
“We need more programming and open discussions of identity, sexuality and gender,” Ochs said. “Universities turn over their population, so every year you will have new faculty, staff and students you need to educate.”
Ochs (pronounced Oaks) has been working for 31 years to shake the stigma of so-called “binary thinking,” especially in regard to sexual orientation and gender identity. Her lectures focus on increasing awareness and understanding of complex identities, and mobilizing people to be powerful allies within and across identities and social movements.
Kaitlyn Kelly, a UND nursing alum who graduated in May, has seen Ochs speak five times over the years. Still, she’s not immune to the occasional epiphany.
“I had a few moments of self-awareness where I was able to confront my own biases,” Kelly said. “I like to consider myself a pretty open minded person, but there were a few times tonight where I was able to recognize that I wasn’t as open as I like to think. But it’s good to brush up against parts of myself that I need to work on.”
According to Ochs, recent studies have shown significant changes in how people identify themselves sexually. It’s no longer only either/or, a message she says is important to share with University communities everywhere.
According to a recent YouGov study, she says, 30 percent of 18-29-year olds in the United States put themselves along a sexuality continuum and not at the edges. But if one asks people 65 and older, only 7 percent put themselves somewhere in the middle.
“There’s a really big generational change happening,” said Ochs. “I think people are giving themselves more permission to be complicated.”
Ochs’ lecture was made possible by the UND Office of Diversity & Inclusion and co-sponsored by the College of Arts & Sciences and the Center for Human Rights & Genocide Studies.
