GLBTA OUTspoken panel discusses Proposition 8
A panel of students representing the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Association (GLBTA) held an OUTspoken panel Tuesday.
The panel’s purpose was to educate the community as well as cultivate acceptance and understanding of diverse thought and culture. Panel members answered questions from the audience concerning the controversy with Proposition 8 and the climate on campus.
“USU has been very accepting. There have been times when hateful things have been said, but it is safer than my hometown of New York,” said Constantine Leoussis, freshman in fisheries and aquatic sciences.
Nichole Paul, senior in anthropology, said she agrees campus is safe for the most part. However, there has been yelling occasionally, she said. During the last six years she has seen it get progressively better. Really bad things have happened in Logan, she said, and Logan is not its own little bubble. She has been jumped twice and said she has been beaten. People don’t have to agree with them, but don’t beat anyone up, she said.
“In my opinion, campus was getting better,” said Bailey Bell, senior in physiology. “Until last month with all the politics and such, I felt safe holding my partner’s hand.”
Included in the politics was the passing of Proposition 8. Panel members were asked what they thought about some members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who felt attacked since the proposition was passed.
“The Church needs to take responsibility for what they did in California,” said Brooke Robertshaw, third year Ph.D. student in instructional technology and learning science. “This is what their lives are like, feeling attacked is in our daily lives.”
Leoussis said although the LDS played a big part, other groups did, too.
Isaac Furniss, sophomore in history, said, “I was raised LDS, I know how they feel. I would fight just as hard for equal marriage as I would for the LDS church to be able keep their practices. However, the minority still needs to be protected.”
The panel also discussed the effect of assumptions. Leoussis said people often associate gay with pink and lesbian with butch and manly qualities. In his case, he said, he was into things both of the male and female genre.
Bell said everyone has different lifestyles.
“There is no one way to be gay,” Bell said.
The GLBTA offers pamphlets in their office, located on the third floor of the TSC, that explain GLBTA services. Bell said the office also serves as a safe haven to come and hang out. There are panels on campus, like OUTspoken, that discuss difficult things that people are tentative to talk about. Brown bag support and discussion groups also meet every week. Maure Smith, GLBTA Services coordinator, is also always willing to schedule meetings about things that students see pertinent, Bell said.
Earnest Cooper, president of Love Is For Everyone (LIFE) said there are group meetings on Tuesdays for people to share and educate one another.
Cooper said he wakes up late for class, throws on some clothes off the floor, sits through class, hangs out on campus, goes to bed and wakes up to repeat the cycle the next day.
“I am just as normal as everybody else,” Cooper said. “We just need to look into the heart of every person.”
For more information on any of the services of the GLBTA students can visit www.usu.edu/glbta.
–tazya.williams@aggiemail.usu.edu