Sparkles 2011 took place on 12 April, and featured a number of different workshops with the aim to educate and support those attending.
Sexual Health and Sexual Empowerment
Both of these workshops were given by Billie, the queer community support worker of the Red Ribbon Project. The sexual health workshop teaches us how to practice sex in a way that is safe both physically and psychologically. It provides an information that most LGBTQ people don’t get in mainstream education.
The sexual empowerment workshop encourages us to explore our sexuality and discover how to really learn to enjoy our sex lives. It’s a refreshing experience as an LGBTQ person to be able to talk so openly about your sexual experiences, and not be judged.
Drag
The drag workshop was delivered by Alternative Miss Limerick Heidi Hotlips, and drag king Dominic Tricks. It gave a very interesting history of drag, and explored the diverse nature of drag artists, from comedy queens to show queens to scary queens! It also looked at the art of drag king-ing, which is an often under-represented part of drag. And several of our guests got to release their inner diva!
Homophobia
The homophobia workshop was delivered by UL’s very own LGBTQ liaison officer, Ger Hanly. It provided us an insight into how how homophobia can affect different people in different ways, and made us think about the amount of heterosexism in the world today. A truly inspirational workshop.
