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JUNE 17,2011
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“Sam is light and energy,” Steele says.
“She loves life and wants to dive in head
first. You just know it looking at her. And
being around her just makes you better,
makes you want to be better. W hen we first
met it was clear that we would be in each
other’s lives for a very long time.”
O ther than running Samantha Swaim
Fundraising, Swaim and Steele are passion
ate about local theater and AIDS/LifeCycle,
an intensive seven-day, fully supported bike
ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles
held earlier this month.
“It was the experience o f a lifetime,”
Swaim says. “Team Portland raised over
$35,000 for H IV /A ID S programming. We
were proud to be a part o f this world-record
event that raised more than $13 million, the
largest H IV /A ID S fundraiser in the
world. As a team we rode 545 miles ... and
were so honored to be a part o f such a com
passionate and giving community for a week.
You have never experienced so much love,
joy and heartbreak at once. It definitely tore
me down and built me back up.”
True Colors
name” field to class rosters, intro
ducing a “body positive swim night”
at the rec center, and forming
Queeries, a queer panel that will ad
dress classes and events to educate
through storytelling.
Born in Northern Washington,
Amabilis has overcome many chal
lenges to get where ze is. “My background is
like Pandora’s box,” ze jokes. “I write re
search papers on it.”
Z ir work with communities o f color is
especially important. “Despite the fact that I
look white, I am part Choctaw and Cana
dian Indian,” ze says. “I grew up in a m ulti
racial family and, so far, most o f my close
friends have been people o f color. This is
who I go to bat for.”
So far, “going to bat” has meant making
PSU a safer, more inclusive place, which is
what Amabilis sees as zis larger goal, “to
utilize what privilege I can pull from (the
world) to further social justice.”
— L eela G inellf .
For more information about A ID S /L ifeC y-
cle , v isit aidslifecycle.org.
—W ayne B und
In zis role at PSU’s Queer Resource C en
ter, Smitty Amabilis, 32, is on the frontlines
of change every day, advocating for trans
friendly policies in every area.
Asked what ze likes about zir position, ze
says, “Everything, except the red tape and
bigotry o f Portland State. Oops, I’m proba
bly not supposed to say things like that, but
I probably have my job because I do.”
Amabilis’ irrepressible energy can be seen
in the volume o f accomplishments ze and zis
colleagues have brought about on campus.
Trans students can now get hormone
shots or refills at the Student Health and
Counseling Center. Likewise, the Q R C is
working on making hormone letters and
initial prescriptions available at the SHACC.
W ith health and counseling housed in one
department, Amabilis likens the arrange
ment to “one-stop shopping.’’
Another change Amabilis is proud o f is
having helped the QRC become more diverse.
Along with Jayvin Gordon-Green, the cen
ter’s Queer Students o f Color coordinator,
Amabilis helped organize the first Queer Stu
dents of Color Conference earlier this year.
Ze says the center has several goals on the
horizon, such as mapping and increasing
gender neutral bathrooms, adding a “chosen
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■ H I
piV»Ot \'p i-V 9 t\
noun
1 : a shaft or pin on w hich som ething turns*
2 a : a person, thing, or fa c to r having a m ajor
or central role, fu n ctio n , or e ffe c t b : a key player
or position*
3 : a space d e d ica te d to the physical, personal,
and social health of all men into men.
*M e rria m -W e b s te r O nline D ictio n a ry
MARTY DAVI
PSU Queer Resource Center’s
Smitty Amabilis advocates for
trans students
T
rv O T C H A H f
C O V ER ED
B lin d s I D ra p e rie s I S h u tte rs & M ore
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