LGBTQ+ Pride Celebration
On Saturday, members of the RCN community gathered for the annual LGBTQ+ Pride celebration. Fifty students, staff members, and families marched from the school to Flekke in a joyous, colorful parade. In Flekke, leaders of the Gender and Sexuality student group (GAS) spoke about the history of Pride and the continuing struggles faced by queer people around the world.
Saturday evening, GAS partnered with Amnesty International as students signed a petition protesting the brutal treatment of LGBT people in Chechnya. Finally, students gathered for a show on the sunny lawn to share poetry, song, and moving stories of personal experience.
Thank you to all those who participated in this affirming coming-together of our community! Happy Pride!
See here for an album of photos from the day.
This, year’s annual Mandela Lecture was given by Evelin Lindner in our auditorium March 29th, on the theme – From Humiliation to Dignity: for a Future of Solidarity. Equality in dignity was a central concept in Evelin’s address to the students, or to use a Norwegian term: Likeverd. This both resembles and is opposed to the concept of a dignitary, someone you subject yourself to. At the same time we had a group of 15 volunteers and participants at Ridderrennet, an event in the spirit of Likeverd, for joint athletic achievements and companionship. On completion of the final race, our two participants, Chat (Cambodia) and Hannah (Liberia) received their congratulations from Prime Minister Erna Solberg. Equality in dignity on and off campus.