Chatham University is a campus of many different facets, and one topic that frequently springs up good feelings is the acceptance of the LBGTQ+ community. The campus plans to celebrate LGBT History month, which starts in October, with several different events that will spark the interest of everyone.
The “Chalk the Quad” event, hosted by the This Is Me! Queer-Straight Alliance, will take place on October 8. Students will have the chance to express themselves through decorating the quad. The next day, This Is Me! will hold a rainbow flag hand printing event in Anderson Dining Hall to support the LGBTQ+ community, and they will host the Coming Out Dialogues in Rea Coffeehouse where students can share their experiences with their peers. At the month’s end, “Celebrating Stonewall: The Stonewall Uprising”will be screened in Eddy Theatre on October 27. It is a great opportunity for anyone interested in history, equal rights, or good film in general.
These on-campus events will allow students to express themselves. They assure them that they are not alone, and they provide some fun outside of the normal campus activities.
Are these events brought about mostly by the Queer-Straight Alliance? This article makes it sound like it’s almost school-sanctioned…it would be wonderful if this was the word from the top as well. I would hope as a newly co-educational environment, that the administration would be more forward about acceptance of the LBGTQ+ community, because a community that’s safe and welcoming of our queer friends would, in my mind, still be sensitive to the needs of women’s-focused education and women’s rights as well. That’s a coed Chatham that I could get behind. Chatham gave women such a great environment to learn and discover themselves in the past, I think that the administration is missing the boat if they don’t grasp this as an opportunity to bring the same environment to our queer brothers and sisters.