No, it’s not disgruntled students complaining about ballooning tuition costs, nor an environmentalist attempt to draw attention to the imminent disappearance of any of the thousands of species that have left us in one generation.

It’s the month of March, on the University of Calgary campus, and stuff is busting out all over.

A fine example is the annual Gender Bender put on by Queers On Campus (Q on C).  Ryan Barlow, co-chair of this Students’ Union club, is enthusiastic about their efforts to gather and interlace different associations and groups of the campus community.

On March 22nd at 9pm in the Den, they are holding, the fifth annual Gender Bender cabaret to raise funds for Q on C’s many other activities throughout the school year. The Gender Bender is open to the public, and participants are encouraged to get "in face" for the evening, as the Drag Show is intended as an inclusionary event. James Dean, April Showers, DJ GS (Goldstar) and DJ Dopamine amongst others will grace the Den’s performance space, and hopefully some other kings and queens will mingle during the evening.

As Ryan says, "Last year we had about 300 people in attendance, which was a record for our Q on C events... It’s really exciting to be able to offer a medium or locus where all people in the community and allies etc. can participate. That’s kind of what Queers on Campus has become: a medium through which the different organizations can interact."  Students, staff, faculty and the public are all welcome.

"Our role has transformed into a social club: into a fun meeting or collaborative space, as opposed to a support group as we might have been in previous years." He mentions that the QCentre on campus serves that function more now.

Regarding the Gender Bender, he says "I’ve never seen an event where so many of the audience members are in face, and I think that’s what makes Gender Bender unique: it gives an opportunity for people who wouldn’t otherwise do anything drag-related."

As a club, Q on C provides food and drink at all of their non-alcoholic events ("One of the best ways to attract students is to give food away," he laughs), which include gender-neutral speed-dating nights, invited speakers, games nights (board and otherwise), movie nights, and other social activities - all supported by this, their main funding push in the year. As he points out, Gender Bender is the only event which costs students money.  Everything else that Queers on Campus does is free to attend for U of C students.

Meanwhile, the annual Coming Out Monologues is slated to occur this year in the Boris Roubakine Theatre in Craigie Hall (also on campus) on March 13th, 14th and 15th, with each night being a different performance.

A tradition originating from the University of California at Riverside (UCR), "The Coming Out Monologues is a community-based theatre project celebrating the diversity of experience and identity as a culmination to the Day of Silence."

The U of C Leadership and Student Engagement program is presenting the Monologues for their fourth year in Calgary, and Aleesha Bray, coordinator of the event, notes that this year there will be a couple of parent/child presentations which should prove evocative and empowering.

While she does ask all of the participants to script, rehearse (and rehearse again) and present their own stories, sometimes the presentation of another’s story is just as important. Additionally, Bray mentions that since none of the monologues are performed by professionals, a great deal of support is given in their creation.

There are three celebratory evenings of the LGBTQA community.

"It’s almost like a variety show. We’re selling buttons for donations, [there’s] a wishing tree, there’s some music participation for the audience as well, a photo booth, ...and on March 16th we’re having an educational supplement, including a panel session with some group activity afterwards, directed towards future educators, doctors, psychologists, and social workers."

Students and the public are welcome here as well.

So you won’t need to take up activism for a reason to march onto the University of Calgary campus this month.