The LGBTQ Center’s “Signature Events” page—which included information about drag, sex education and other annual events—was readded to their website Friday afternoon after the University of North Florida instructed them to remove it yesterday. 

This morning, Dr. Richmond Wynn, UNF’s chief diversity officer and vice president, told Spinnaker that the webpage was removed to update the tab with “current descriptions of the events and general timing of when the events occur.” 

The sudden return of the center’s webpage begs one question: what changed? 

Using the Wayback Machine, an Internet archive that saves past versions of websites, Spinnaker compared the LGBTQ Center’s website as it appeared on Oct. 6, 2022, with how it appears now. 

The changes

The word “drag queen” doesn’t appear in this new version of the webpage. The last version of the webpage included a space about “Drag Queen Brunch,” an annual event where drag queens were invited to perform and raise funds for the LGBTQ Center. Now, there is a new section called “Pride Month Events” instead.

The information below each event has also changed. Last year’s website version dedicated a blurb and a description of when the event typically happens. It also included links to photos and information from when the center had thrown the event in the past.

For example, the Building Bridges Creating Community Fundraising section said when the event happened, had a long paragraph about it and linked to fundraising events in 2020 and 2021. 

The current webpage, as it appears at the time of publication, does not have links to past events. Instead, it only has one link to the ticket page for this year’s Building Bridges Creating Community fundraising event happening next Friday.

The October 2022 version of the website also had links to two drag queen brunches in 2021 and 2022, the Lavender Celebration, LGBTQ History Month in 2020, Coming Out Week in 2018 and five years worth of Sex Weeks starting in 2017.

All of those links are missing on the current version of the webpage. 

There also appear to be a few changes to the language used to describe when each event happens. 

For example, in the Oct. 6, 2022 version of the webpage, Sex Week “Happens in first full week in March.” Now, it reads that Sex Week “Generally occurs between February and March.” Similar language is used to describe each event on the current page. 

The “Signature Events” section of the center’s website is a way to “showcase the events that have helped thousands of LGBTQ+ and ally students and community members,” LGBTQ Center Director Manny Velásquez-Paredes wrote to Spinnaker in an email this morning. 

Spinnaker requested a statement from Dr. Wynn explaining why the change was made to the LGBTQ Center’s page but did not receive an immediate response by publication. This article will be updated if a statement is received. 

___

For more information or news tips, or if you see an error in this story or have any compliments or concerns, contact editor@unfspinnaker.com.