Newsletter

GSU welcomes Robyn Ochs

By Eva Jo McIlraith

October 8, 2025

The Gender and Sexuality Union (GSU) marked Bisexual Awareness Week with a powerful day of programming that highlighted both the history and future of bi+ activism. On September 22, the organization welcomed Robyn Ochs, a nationally recognized LGBTQIA+ activist, writer, and educator, to campus for two programs focused on bisexuality, history, and sustainable activism. Students gathered to celebrate, learn, and reflect on the importance of bi+ voices in the LGBTQIA+ movement.

The day began at the Days-Massolo Multicultural Center (DMC) with Bi+ History, a program designed to fill critical gaps in mainstream understandings of LGBTQIA+ history. Ochs led participants through a discussion of the often-overlooked contributions of bisexual, pansexual, and other bi+ communities to the broader movement. Attendees left with a deeper appreciation for the resilience and leadership of bi+ people, whose work has frequently gone unrecognized despite shaping LGBTQIA+ progress for decades.

In the evening, Ochs shifted their focus toward the future with “How to Respond to Now: Sustainable Activism,” held in the Events Barn. Over a shared dinner, participants explored strategies for sustaining activism in challenging times. Ochs explored themes of balance, community and self care, adaptability, and intentionality in movements for justice. “I imagine activists as cultural artists, because we see a world that doesn’t exist yet,” Ochs reflected.

Ochs ended her time with an edifying allegory of starfish. They describe a man who watches as a boy throws starfish into the ocean one by one. When he points out the futility of the boy’s task, given the infinite starfish left washed up on the beach, the boy throws another starfish, telling the man “I made a difference to that one.” In one final moment of guidance, Ochs encouraged their students to realize the value in each small victory and each liberated being. She left each attendee with earnest excitement to jump into genuine activism.