Greetings Golden Rams! 

Welcome to November! We are only a few days in and a lot has already happened. This year has been one of a lot of uncertainty, and this month is no different. We know many of you have been watching the election returns anxiously awaiting the outcome of the presidential race - the staff at the Center for Women & Gender Equity has been watching along with you. And while it can be disheartening that there is so much we still do not know about the outcome of this election, we want to pause and congratulate everyone who participated in this election. Voting is a complex and often challenging, but voting is not the only means to participate in this process, and we want to offer our thanks to everyone who has engaged throughout this election cycle. 

With so much uncertainty in the presidential race, it can be challenging to focus on some of the known outcomes of this election, but there have been some historic changes to come out of this election. We have seen some historic firsts for people of color, queer and trans people, and some progressive policies have been passed across the U.S. 

Our neighbor Delaware has elected the nation's first transgender state senator, Sarah McBride. 

Ritchie Torres has been elected as the first LGBTQ Afro-Latino member of Congress. Mondaire Jones will be the first openly gay Black man in Congress, making them the first gay Black Congressmen. 

New Mexico elected all women of color to the House.  

Mauree Turner has been elected as Oklahoma’s first Muslim lawmarker AND the first non-binary state legislator in U.S. history. 

Nevada became the first state to protect same-sex marriage in their state constitution.  

We can both be proud of the progress being made and hold space for the very real sadness that it has taken so much time to reach these milestones. Take good care over these next weeks. We don’t know when we will know the outcome of the presidential race, but we do know that there will always be more work to do in the name of justice and liberation. To do the work of liberation, we need to take care of ourselves and each other. 

Mx. Tess Benser
Assistant Director of Outreach & Engagement

Rams Step Up Skill Building: 

Because the pandemic still has most of us at home, a lot of our interactions are happening virtually. However virtual environments do not mean that harm can not occur. Here are some ways to use the 5 Ds of bystander intervention to intervene in online spaces. 

Direct: Comment directly on posts that spread harmful ideologies. Private message people directly if something they share is misleading. 

Distract: Bury hate speech in comment sections with silly GIFs. Spam hashtags that promote white supremacy or misogyny with posts about your favorite musicians. 

Delegate: Report misleading posts to social media platforms and engage friends to do the same. Flag inappropriate content. 

Delay: Private message someone who may have experienced harassment or harm on online platforms. Ask what response they would like from you. 

Document: Screen capture harmful tweets and posts to save them as evidence in case they are taken down. Record interactions with folks who appear to do harm to others.