Kristen Linnartz
Staff Writer
People struggle with acceptance and their decisions for their sexual orientation and how people will treat them everyday. On this campus, there is a group called the Pride Alliance. Pride Alliance is holding a booth in the Union everyday this week to get people to participate in Ally Day.
Ally Day is held on October 24. It is a day for acceptance and for everyone to know that they are not alone and that they have people who support them, not only on this campus but in this community as well. Although Ally Day is only one day, it is important that people participate in this not only for the one day, but every day.
Ally Day focuses on supporting the rights of LGBT students on campus and off campus. It promotes the fact that this is a safe place for LGBT students and they have a lot of allies surrounding them and keeping them safe and supported.
You do not always know who you see walking through campus is an ally, so on Friday, everyone who visited the booth and got a t-shirt is encouraged to wear it so people inside and outside the LGBT community can understand just how many allies there are.
“Although this campus doesn’t seem very diverse from a lot of people’s perspective, there [are] a lot of people who identify as LGBT and this event is very important to let those people know they are not alone and they have someone to talk to and they have friends. This day really serves to provide knowledge to people that they are not alone and that they have someone who agrees with their life,” said sophomore and President of the Pride Alliance, Allie Moreno.
Ally Day is actually a week long event held by Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network, GLSEN, which holds a day of silence, Ally Day and much more. Officially, Ally Week was last week, but Pride Alliance decided to hold the table this week because of the long holiday weekend. This way, they have all five days to get the word out.
The week provides a week of support and getting allies out there while making sure everyone is friendly to each other. Our day on our campus is to make sure that there are allies and they won’t stand for hate against the LGBT community.
The Pride Alliance is also holding a Transgender Day of Remembrance panel on November 18 at 7 P.M. and it is open to the students on campus. This is the Pride Alliance’s fourth year on campus and they are hoping to get more allies and more support for the LGBT community.
“I think one of the most important things to remember after Ally Week is that being an Ally doesn’t stop after Ally Week. Continuing your support for the LGBT community is very important for LGBT community members to feel comfortable on this campus and to feel supported,” said graduate student and advisor of Pride Alliance, Jeremy Miller.
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