By Ceoli Jacoby
On the evening of Nov. 16, LGBTQ students and their allies gathered in the Stamp Student Union North Atrium for the Office of Multicultural Involvement & Community Advocacy’s annual Queer Open Mic Night — an event where comedians, poets, musicians and artists feel free to share what is often their most intimate content in a supportive and inclusive space.
Julia Parker is a sophomore history major and a member of the Hysterics, University of Maryland’s all-female and nonbinary comedy group. She also performs stand-up at events on campus and in Washington, D.C. Generally speaking, her sets broach a range of subjects. However, for the Queer Open Mic, she decided to tailor all of the jokes she had about being gay into one set.
“I don’t usually like to focus on it, just in case the crowd isn’t really queer friendly,” she said. “But here, I knew that all of them were going to land and also be pretty relatable to people.”
Parker heard about the event through a friend at WMUC, where she works as a DJ. She noted that performing stand-up at an open mic can go either way, especially if the comedic set follows a somber poetry reading or heartfelt song. However, Parker said this crowd exceeded expectations.
“It’s really nice making other people in the community laugh. That’s part of why I do stand-up and why I think it’s really important to have these kinds of spaces,” she said.
Joey Haavik, who uses both he/him and they/them pronouns, is the graduate coordinator for LGBTQ+ involvement at MICA. Haavik said that, although the Queer Open Mic Night did take place last year over Zoom, it was “about as cool as you might think it was.”
He was relieved that the community was able to gather in-person this year, not only for the open mic but also to commemorate Transgender Awareness Week, which memorializes transgender victims of violence annually from Nov. 13 to 19.
“I like to think that these are stories that might not always get the same airtime as non-queer stories,” Haavik said. “By being in this space, there is an assumed trust and a shared experience that we can all relate to.”
Haavik also mentioned the importance of intersectionality in queer-inclusive spaces.
“It’s not just gay and bisexual voices — it’s Black queer voices, it’s South Asian trans voices,” he said.
While the LGBTQ community as a whole faces barriers to housing, inequity of employment and harassment, community members who also belong to other marginalized groups bear the brunt of this treatment.
According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, white transgender people are twice as likely as white cisgender people to be unemployed as a result of discrimination, while transgender people of color are four times more likely.
“I really want to highlight that there are not really spaces for transgender people — even within the LGBTQ community,” Haavik said. “By having this event this week, we hope to hold some sort of space.”
Kay Weekes, who uses they/them pronouns, is a senior psychology major and the owner of Cloud999 — a handmade, unisex jewelry business.
“I love jewelry and I almost feel naked without it,” Weekes said. “But I always have liked very weird things that I don’t see in stores a lot.”
During the lockdowns of 2020, Weekes started searching for trinkets at the Dollar Tree that they could incorporate into their designs. Now, they table at events on campus, selling earrings made of doll parts, safety pins, chains and more.
Weekes found out about the queer open mic through a GroupMe for queer UMD students. When they saw on the flyer that the organizers were looking for vendors, they emailed Haavik and secured a spot.
The name Cloud999 is a nod to the angel number 999, which signifies releasing things which no longer serve you. It is also indicative of an impending transition, an idea that resonates with much of the LGBTQ commnity.
“After every 999 is a 000,” Weekes said, referencing another angel number which signifies rebirth and new beginnings.
Featured image: Kay Weekes sits at their vendor booth during Queer Open Mic Night. Around their neck are handmade necklaces. Photo by Ceoli Jacoby.
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