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Tigers in the News
14 years ago
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Groups give collegiate gays, lesbians strength
Posted: 10/15/2011 8:55 AM
From: The Daily Journal (http://m.daily-journal.com/dailyjournal/db_/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=sixs78VD&full=true#display) in Kankakee
If there's one message Milan Nelson sought to promote through the Rainbow Alliance she founded earlier this year at Kankakee Community College, it was this:
"Just be awesome to each other."
But digging deeper, one finds a greater motivation.
Nelson, 25, is a lesbian. When she came out at age 18, then a senior at Kankakee High School, Nelson endured the typical abuses. Tampons stuffed into the gas tank door. Eggs broken on her car.
With the support of an older co-worker who had already come out as gay, Nelson said she decided to not be alone.
"I did a lot of soul-searching and I thought, 'yeah, I'm OK with this,'" she recently recalled. "I'm comfortable with who I am."
And now, a growing number of students in the area's three major post-secondary institutions are joining Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT)-friendly groups, both official and unofficial, and are making similar decisions.
"It just makes you feel that you're more accepted," said Carrie Parks, a 24-year-old student at Governors State University. "That you're not the only one."
The Gay Straight Alliance at GSU was founded last month by Eric Vironet, a master's degree student in social work, who said he was struck by the proliferation of homophobic comments he heard around campus and in class.
A GSA, as gay/straight alliances are commonly referred to, would help support the gay community and educate the rest, Vironet thought.
"It's empowering to not live in isolation or fear to be yourself," he said.
Perhaps unexpectedly, the battle for acceptance has been waged by gay students at Olivet Nazarene University, which does not support homosexuality.
Earlier this year, a small group of gay Olivet students outed themselves in an article published in the school's online newspaper, GlimmerGlass.
"We started to see a mobilization of the student body that we hadn't seen before," said Brett Carmouche, who was one of the students profiled in the article and has since graduated and moved away.
But that momentum -- described by other students at the time as three years in the making -- soon came apart.
More than half of the 10 to 15 gay students and their straight "allies" graduated this year, said one student, who asked to remain anonymous because she is completing her senior year. Several other transferred away from Olivet.
What was once an "unofficial" gay and straight alliance has since disbanded.
"This year I don't feel as supported," the student, a lesbian, said. "Since there's no group, there isn't much you can do to meet other people."
Olivet officials declined a request for an interview, saying through a spokesperson, that they did not feel an interview "could adequately convey the nuances of where we stand."
In a prepared statement, the school said its policy is to "affirm the Biblical teaching that sexual intimacies are to be shared as God's gift within the context of a committed marriage relationship between and man and woman, and that any form of sexual promiscuity, including homosexual acts, contradicts both Scripture and God's plan for us.
"University faculty and staff are willing to talk about any of the lifestyle expectations with students in a way that is open and respectful."
Rick Garcia, a longtime gay rights activist in Chicago, said gay alliance groups are growing throughout the state.
"One of the strongest political tools we have is coming out," Garcia said. "If you're out, the institutions have to respond to it, and hopefully they respond in a positive way."
Alliance and support groups have two goals, he said: "To affirm the students there, but also to provide safety for those students."
National statistics suggests the need is great.
Almost 9 out of 10 students from grades 6 to 12 hear the word "gay" used in a negative way, according to a 2009 National School Climate Survey conducted by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network.
More than 80 percent of students said they were verbally harassed at school because of their sexual orientation. Forty percent were physically harassed.
"High school can either be the best four years of your life, or the worst four years of your life," said Amanda Hays, 25, an officer with KCC's Rainbow Alliance.
Hays, who is straight, said witnessing the abuse her gay friend in high school endured, inspired her to educate herself and others.
Jonathon Bacon, 27, co-president of the Alliance (Nelson has since left the college and lives in Bolingbrook), said discrimination was also part of his coming out.
So was grieving and moving forward.
"The world is a cold place sometimes," he said. "And that's another reason why we have our group.
"Our group is about hope, love and understanding."
Posted: 10/15/2011 8:55 AM
From: The Daily Journal (http://m.daily-journal.com/dailyjournal/db_/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=sixs78VD&full=true#display) in Kankakee
If there's one message Milan Nelson sought to promote through the Rainbow Alliance she founded earlier this year at Kankakee Community College, it was this:
"Just be awesome to each other."
But digging deeper, one finds a greater motivation.
Nelson, 25, is a lesbian. When she came out at age 18, then a senior at Kankakee High School, Nelson endured the typical abuses. Tampons stuffed into the gas tank door. Eggs broken on her car.
With the support of an older co-worker who had already come out as gay, Nelson said she decided to not be alone.
"I did a lot of soul-searching and I thought, 'yeah, I'm OK with this,'" she recently recalled. "I'm comfortable with who I am."
And now, a growing number of students in the area's three major post-secondary institutions are joining Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT)-friendly groups, both official and unofficial, and are making similar decisions.
"It just makes you feel that you're more accepted," said Carrie Parks, a 24-year-old student at Governors State University. "That you're not the only one."
The Gay Straight Alliance at GSU was founded last month by Eric Vironet, a master's degree student in social work, who said he was struck by the proliferation of homophobic comments he heard around campus and in class.
A GSA, as gay/straight alliances are commonly referred to, would help support the gay community and educate the rest, Vironet thought.
"It's empowering to not live in isolation or fear to be yourself," he said.
Perhaps unexpectedly, the battle for acceptance has been waged by gay students at Olivet Nazarene University, which does not support homosexuality.
Earlier this year, a small group of gay Olivet students outed themselves in an article published in the school's online newspaper, GlimmerGlass.
"We started to see a mobilization of the student body that we hadn't seen before," said Brett Carmouche, who was one of the students profiled in the article and has since graduated and moved away.
But that momentum -- described by other students at the time as three years in the making -- soon came apart.
More than half of the 10 to 15 gay students and their straight "allies" graduated this year, said one student, who asked to remain anonymous because she is completing her senior year. Several other transferred away from Olivet.
What was once an "unofficial" gay and straight alliance has since disbanded.
"This year I don't feel as supported," the student, a lesbian, said. "Since there's no group, there isn't much you can do to meet other people."
Olivet officials declined a request for an interview, saying through a spokesperson, that they did not feel an interview "could adequately convey the nuances of where we stand."
In a prepared statement, the school said its policy is to "affirm the Biblical teaching that sexual intimacies are to be shared as God's gift within the context of a committed marriage relationship between and man and woman, and that any form of sexual promiscuity, including homosexual acts, contradicts both Scripture and God's plan for us.
"University faculty and staff are willing to talk about any of the lifestyle expectations with students in a way that is open and respectful."
Rick Garcia, a longtime gay rights activist in Chicago, said gay alliance groups are growing throughout the state.
"One of the strongest political tools we have is coming out," Garcia said. "If you're out, the institutions have to respond to it, and hopefully they respond in a positive way."
Alliance and support groups have two goals, he said: "To affirm the students there, but also to provide safety for those students."
National statistics suggests the need is great.
Almost 9 out of 10 students from grades 6 to 12 hear the word "gay" used in a negative way, according to a 2009 National School Climate Survey conducted by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network.
More than 80 percent of students said they were verbally harassed at school because of their sexual orientation. Forty percent were physically harassed.
"High school can either be the best four years of your life, or the worst four years of your life," said Amanda Hays, 25, an officer with KCC's Rainbow Alliance.
Hays, who is straight, said witnessing the abuse her gay friend in high school endured, inspired her to educate herself and others.
Jonathon Bacon, 27, co-president of the Alliance (Nelson has since left the college and lives in Bolingbrook), said discrimination was also part of his coming out.
So was grieving and moving forward.
"The world is a cold place sometimes," he said. "And that's another reason why we have our group.
"Our group is about hope, love and understanding."
