 "Photo: Photo by Chris Steinert")
The LGBTQ Resource Center celebrated its one-year anniversary Oct. 22 and State Rep. Gordon Hintz spoke to those who attended the ceremony at the Campus Center for Equity and Diversity.
Aside from the expanse of books, periodical subscriptions and videos focused on anything LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer), the resource center has organized an array of “Brown Bags,” which are panels that focus on issues that may affect LGBTQ citizens on campus or in the community. The resource center has also recognized National Transgender Day, World AIDS Day, and National Pride Day. It has organized groups to help LGBTQ students, such as Queer Peer, a mentoring program started by the Rainbow Alliance for Hope, which helps students with questions about coming out, discrimination or problems within a class.
“I hope we continue to grow and grow and grow,” Director of the resource center Liz Cannon said.
Currently, the center is located in the basement of the Campus Center for Equity and Diversity, which means there isn’t a lot of room for large groups of people. Cannon acknowledges the fact that they will one day grow out of the space.
“It’s not a place where students in large numbers can come and hang out, and in that sense it’s not serving that function,” Cannon said.
Hintz, who has supported the LGBTQ Resource Center since its opening last year, and who has very publicly supported same-sex marriage, was the keynote speaker at the event.
In his speech, he illustrated events in his political life that coincided with issues pertaining to the LGBTQ population of his district. The first was the question of cost for these benefits, especially when money is so scarce in today’s economy.
“There are some things that [you can’t] put price tags on,” Hintz said.
He pointed out that this issue is a very important one, and he feels strongly that everyone should be given the same rights and opportunities.
Another issue Hintz has faced in the name of equal rights was his recent experience when speaking at a local religious high school. Students began to question why “special rights” had been passed for the LGBTQ community, despite the fact that they had “overwhelmingly voted” against them. He explained to them that they weren’t “special rights,” they were “equal rights.”
In closing he made the point that same-sex couples will have children, and those children deserve to “have the same rights as opposite-couple children.”
Chancellor Richard Wells commented on the speech afterward, saying that it was clear that Hintz had the right values a state representative is expected to possess.
“It’s a very hard line to walk to be effective,” Wells said.
He noted that Hintz was both talented and courageous in that he is willing and able to win over the majority of the people, while still holding true to his own values and the values of a minority.
Dottie Mathews, campus minister of the Titan Unitarian Universalist Group, and Kelsey Eskrich, a member of the Titan Unitarian Universalist Group, said that the group to which they belonged believed in equal treatment for all.
They were both happy to be a part of this celebration; this was counted as one of their group meetings.
“A lot of the group hadn’t been here,” Eskrich said. “This is an ideal way for them to check it out.”
“[It was] fantastic, eye-opening, [and] comforting that that kind of speaker is available for the community,” Kay Beuthin, a senior who has been involved with the LGBTQ Resource Center since it began last year, said. She said that her “interest lies in a celebration of diversity within our campus community.”
As for the LGBTQ Resource Center itself, Cannon is proud to be the director and plans to help it grow for many years to come.
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