UCLA is one of the most gay-friendly campuses in the nation, according to Campus Pride, a nonprofit student support group.
This is exciting news, but please do not take it to mean that we are perfectly accepting of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community or that there is no more progress to be made.
In comparison with other campuses, UCLA is generally more tolerant of the LGBT community and less homophobic, and students do not have to drop out if they come out (we’re looking at you, West Point). But tolerance is not the same as acceptance. We are not perfect, and the campus needs to continue striving toward complete acceptance of all students, regardless of race, gender, religion, ethnicity or sexual orientation.
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UCLA deserved this ranking. We have a great LGBT Resource Center, an independent LGBT studies program and a number of other similar organizations or resources that were the first of their sort in the nation or are currently leading in their fields.
But as general representative of the Undergraduate Students Association Council Gatsby Miller said, “It’s important we realize that acceptance is never a destination but a goal we all work toward.”
He has worked at the LGBT Resource Center since the first day of his freshman year. To him, UCLA’s gay-friendliness is not just a matter of ranking or prestige.
“After my family kicked me out of the house, I didn’t really have a lot of options,” Miller said. So he e-mailed the schools he’d been accepted to, asking for support.
“UCLA, actually Dr. Ronni Sanlo (LGBT Resource Center director), was the first and only response,” Miller said.
She took care of him and made sure he had a place to stay and work.
“And really that’s what the center is doing for the student on campus, providing a home for queer students on campus,” Miller said.
But Catharine McGraw, student affairs officer for LGBT studies, hears many stories that show our community has work to do. One of McGraw’s students has met the requirements for the LGBT studies minor but has not declared the minor because her parents do not want the title to show on her degree. These parents are indirectly part of the UCLA community and show that full acceptance is still a lofty goal.
Another disappointing story McGraw has heard involves a student not being allowed to use LGBT issues for a project in a history class. The LGBT community’s contributions to society are still not always accepted, even by our own professors.
This lack of acceptance may be a product of the society we live in. Same-sex couples cannot wed in most states, openly gay men and lesbians are barred from serving in the military and men who have had sex with other men are banned from donating blood by federal government restrictions.
But what can we as a campus community do?
According to Miller, “One thing everyone can work on is just awareness of the little issues that affect queer students.”
So get educated. Go to the LGBT Resource Center, read the Williams Institute report on “don’t ask, don’t tell,” and find out the details of the court’s ruling on the validity of Proposition 8.
Then talk about it.
Talk about these issues with your peers (whether or not they are a part of the LGBT community). Talk to your parents. Talk to your professors. Awareness and openness about these issues can do much for progressing gay rights because ignorance of these issues makes it easier for society to deny rights to this group.
You do not have to have strong opinions or proposed solutions for every issue, but just knowing about them is so much better than avoiding them altogether.
But in terms of what UCLA has already been doing, Adelin Lo of the LGBT Resource Center said we are heading in the right direction to create a welcoming community on campus.
The center started as a converted broom closet in Haines Hall. Now out of the closet and located in the Student Activities Center, it has a study lounge, computer lab, library, lavender garden and even a full-time counselor.
The next steps for UCLA should be addressing the problems in acceptance on campus and further educating all students. But as students, we should be the ones sparking the dialogue.