Gay? Fine by me.

Thanks to all the students and staff who came out to our "Gay? Fine by me" event last week! And very special thanks to ResLife for generously donating the t-shirts!

-GSA Executive Board

Gay Adolescents in the NYTimes

Hey GSAers,

This isn't an official update, just a brief mention. There was an encouraging article about gay middle school kids in the NYtimes today. It's a little lengthy, but well worth the read:

Excerpt:

"

As a response to anti-gay bullying and harassment, at least 120 middle schools across the country have formed gay-straight alliance (G.S.A.) groups, where gay and lesbian students — and their straight peers — meet to brainstorm strategies for making their campus safer. Other schools are letting students be part of the national Day of Silence each April (participants take a vow of silence for a day to symbolize the silencing effect of anti-gay harassment), which last year was held in memory of Lawrence King, a 15-year-old gay junior-high student in Oxnard, Calif., who was shot and killed at school by a 14-year-old classmate.

Both G.S.A.’s and the Day of Silence have been controversial in places, as some parents and faculty members object to what they see as the promotion of homosexuality in public schools and the “premature sexualization of the students,” as a lawyer for a school in central Florida that was fighting the creation of a G.S.A. put it. But there is a growing consensus among parents and middle-school educators that something needs to be done to curb anti-gay bullying, which a 2008 study at an all-male school by researchers at the University of Nebraska and Harvard Medical School found to be the most psychologically harmful type of bullying. "

On a side note

Hey GSAers,

On a side note, I know that large portions of the website are nonfunctional right now. The server was updated, and some of the syntax I was using needed to be changed to reflect the new increases in security. Unfortunately, I haven't figured out what I need to change that syntax to, even if it wasn't laborious and tedious, so it's going to be awhile until I can figure it out, or find a work-around.

-Emily

EDIT: Except for the feedback form, I fixed it.

New Semester!

Hey GSAers,

So, it's a new semester, and we're ready to get moving! The current GSA Exec Board had a meeting this weekend to hammer out our agenda for the year, as well as schedule a first meeting for elections. We're working a few things out with Kim Taylor for our first event (Gay? Fine by Me. T-shirts), so we don't have great details yet. We do know, however, that we will be attempting to institute a committee-structure for major events so that everyone can be more involved. Some of the committees and events we will be voting on this year include:

1. Day of Silence
2. Gayla
3. Coming Out Day
4. Outfest
5. Students for Equality Day
6. Transgendered Awareness Day
7. Wellness Fair

There will be an e-mail, more info at the activities fair, and of course- we'll be posting big news here as always.

We look forward to seeing you soon!

-Emily, Webmaster

Point Foundation Scholarship

Hey everyone!
I would like to tell you about the Point Foundation Scholarship. This scholarship offers financial support, mentoring, and training to individuals with high academic achievement and leadership in the LGBT community, especially to members of this community that have been marginalized due to gender expression, gender identity, or sexual orientation. The scholarship often provides financial support to undergraduate and graduate students that have families that either cannot or will not support the individual’s higher education costs. The application to apply is available online beginning in December 2009 through February 2010. More information, the application, and the inspiring stories of current and previous Point Foundation Scholars can be found here http://www.pointfoundation.org/ .

Enjoy your summer!
-Michelle (GSA Secretary)

Jennifer Boylan

Hey GSAers,

For those of you who don't read the New York Times compulsively, Jennifer Boylan wrote an Op-Ed this week that is worth checking out. You can read it here.

I hope everyone's finals are going well!

-Emily Webmaster/Treasurer

COSA

Hey GSAers,

Just a quick update because it's the end of the year: AFAC, Finals, Research Papers, Oh my!

The GSA presented at COSA today on "Implied Hate Speech: Fear of 'Others' in Our Space." If you missed out, you can download it here. It's a fairly accurate outline of our discussion which we filled in with personal experiences about implicit discrimination, both towards us as members of the LGBTQA community or other minority group, friends, etc. At the end of the presentation we opened it up for discussion about the following things:

What can faculty and staff do to foster tolerance?
What value does expressions of pride in the form of chalkings have, in the context of the negative reactions that are consistently induced?
How can we reach out and have good dialogue with those people we don't agree with?

More on this later! Sometime this summer, I swear, some content will get developed. Also, I'll put up the minutes for the last meeting on Friday.

Treasurer/Webmaster,

Emily