Sylva celebrated its sixth annual Pride festival Sunday, Sept. 20, at Bridge Park. Tents of vendors and food trucks lined up to sell handmade crafts and assorted food and beverages, while local businesses and nonprofits shared information about their work supporting the LGBTQ+ community in Sylva. The long-anticipated Pride parade started at 2 p.m. on […]
Students at WCU explain how to make all-gender bathrooms easier to access on campus
April 4, 2025 by
Bathrooms are an essential part of living for anyone everywhere. But all-gender bathrooms in today’s politics can be seen as a DEI issue. Especially on a college campus. However, the all-gender bathrooms are used by everyone and knowing where one can find them and have them in an areas frequented by community is providing an […]
Executive orders from Trump have shaken LGBTQ community at WCU
February 20, 2025 by
While some changes came as no surprise after President Trump took office, others have been put in place more quickly than anticipated. Executive orders are impacting the LGBTQ community and the queer community at Western Carolina University has something to say about it. Ash Haight, a creative writing graduate student at WCU shared her thoughts […]
Queer and Christian at WCU: navigating faith, identity and acceptance in local churches
December 12, 2024 by
Story co-produced with Callia Addikis “I think the biggest thing is how [being gay] set me back, with being able to love who I love, and not living my life based off of an artifact,” says Kinley Lewis, a student of environmental science at WCU. WCU has a diverse student population, with students who […]
Biblical showdown at Catafount between pastors and students
October 6, 2023 by
Screaming loud enough to hear from heaven and hell. That was the experience when two Christian pastors associated with the YouTube channel “ChristTrekker” came to campus Tuesday, Sept. 26 to preach against, the LGBTQ+ community, and other behavior they considered sinful. ChristTrekker describes itself as a “street preaching ministry aimed at preaching the gospel and […]
“A place at the table for everyone”
May 15, 2023 by
Beulah Land, a local drag queen, artist and advocate for social change talks about what it’s like being a drag queen. She begins her day as any of us. Her daily job is working as a barista in downtown Sylva. But when the day draws to a close, Land gets to a different type of werk. […]
