The Gender and Sexuality Resource Center hosted its annual Dildo Bingo event at the Illini Union on Wednesday, with over 100 attendees. The event aims to educate participants about the LGBTQ+ community, sexual health and community resources.
The event featured multiple rounds of bingo, where organizers called out and explained terms associated with the LGBTQ+ community. Multiple winners received prizes ranging from sex toys to informational coloring books.
The director of the GSRC, Yolanda Williams-Goliday, says Dildo Bingo acts as a yearly spring welcome-back event for students. It provides a space for open conversation about the LGBTQ+ community and sex.
“The biggest thing is that students leave with more information about sexual health and LGBT sexual health, in a space where not only is it fun, it is not awkward or demonized,” Williams-Goliday said.
Beyond sex education, participants gained an understanding of community resources. Uniting Pride was mentioned as a local nonprofit focused on creating inclusive spaces for the LGBTQ+ community. The GSRC also provided information on RSOs that concentrate on different intersectional groups.
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“It’s not just about sex,” Williams-Goliday said. “You learn about the GSRC, other organizations, our Queer Campus Coalition and phrases and terminology used within the LGBTQ+ community.”
Representatives from the Queer Campus Coalition were also in attendance. The QCC consists of 10 student organizations that unite the LGBTQ+ community on campus, including Entre Hermanas, LGBTJew, FUSE and more.
Dildo Bingo is one of the GSRC’s largest events of the year, with students attending for several reasons.
“I came because last year was really fun and interesting, and I learned a lot of new words,” said Carolyn Torres, sophomore in ACES. “It’s educational and fun.”
Beyond Dildo Bingo, the GSRC hosts multiple community-building events throughout the year in collaboration with other RSOs. The center helps educate students about LGBTQ+ resources on campus and in the local community.
“As a whole, it directs students to resources, either in our center or with other centers,” said Luz Rocha, senior in AHS and student intern at the GSRC. “Overall, it provides a safe place on campus.”
The GSRC officially became a center on campus in 1993. It was originally located in the Union and employed only two staff members and one student intern. After 30 years in the Union, the GSRC relocated to a larger Green Street location this past summer.
Williams-Goliday said the larger office space now hosts 11 student interns and 11 RSOs. The space offers a sensory room for students to destress, as well as a community closet where students can find free clothes that match their gender expression.
Other resources include referrals, a success coach from the Jeffries Center, career services and the CARE Center for students in need of financial resources.
“We are not over here just talking about sex all day,” Williams-Goliday said. “That is the image that some people get when they think about the LGBT community … It infuriates me because it’s an archaic thought … We are really living normal lives and trying to make a better place for the LGBT community.”
The GSRC welcomed its new assistant director, Chris Schlarb, at Dildo Bingo as well. Schlarb will assist Williams in the administration of the center.
“I’d really like to see us continue with innovative programming and advance advocacy and resources for our students,” Schlarb said.
