{"id":30,"date":"2023-06-12T17:04:22","date_gmt":"2023-06-12T17:04:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/lgbtqhistory\/?page_id=30"},"modified":"2024-11-22T20:16:16","modified_gmt":"2024-11-22T20:16:16","slug":"merging","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/lgbtqhistory\/merging\/","title":{"rendered":"Merging"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In November of 1999, the Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Alliance merged with Slip of the Tongue and Spectrum to form True Colors. True Colors&#8217; initial membership was between 70-80 people. The&nbsp;<em>Mount Holyoke News<\/em>&nbsp;article mentioned that SYSTA, the closed space for LBTQ women of color, opted to remain separate. According to an org directory from 2001-02, SYSTA was &#8220;a CONFIDENTIAL group&#8221; created in 1994-95 for lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and questioning women of color. It was an informal support group that &#8220;served many different needs of members.&#8221; SYSTA met in a confidential place known only to its members. SYSTA did not merge with the other orgs for numerous reasons, including the racism in primarily white organizations and the need for a closed space for women of color. The orgs did host events together in the following years. For example, in October 13th, 2000, SYSTA and True Colors hosted a &#8220;coming out week&#8221; party in the Marks House.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/compass.fivecolleges.edu\/node\/1353559\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"787\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/lgbtqhistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/885\/2023\/06\/True-Colors-SYSTA-2000-787x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Green poster with black text\" class=\"wp-image-117\" style=\"object-fit:cover;width:500px;height:768px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/lgbtqhistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/885\/2023\/06\/True-Colors-SYSTA-2000-787x1024.jpg 787w, https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/lgbtqhistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/885\/2023\/06\/True-Colors-SYSTA-2000-231x300.jpg 231w, https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/lgbtqhistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/885\/2023\/06\/True-Colors-SYSTA-2000-768x1000.jpg 768w, https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/lgbtqhistory\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/885\/2023\/06\/True-Colors-SYSTA-2000.jpg 922w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 787px) 100vw, 787px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><sup><sub>Poster for True Colors\/SYSTA National Coming Out Week party, October 13th, 2000<\/sub><\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In November of 1999, the Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Alliance merged with Slip of the Tongue and Spectrum to form True Colors. True Colors&#8217; initial membership was between 70-80 people. The&nbsp;Mount Holyoke News&nbsp;article mentioned that SYSTA, the closed space for LBTQ women of color, opted to remain separate. According to an org directory from 2001-02, SYSTA [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2199,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-templates\/page-nosidebar.php","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-30","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/lgbtqhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/30","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/lgbtqhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/lgbtqhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/lgbtqhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2199"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/lgbtqhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/lgbtqhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/30\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":208,"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/lgbtqhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/30\/revisions\/208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/lgbtqhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}