I was talking to a boy named Dylan this last Thursday at USGA. He was quite amazed at the number of people that came, and on top of that all the people that couldn't quite make it but are still part of the group. He came from Salt Lake City, where they have an LGBT center at the U of U.
A few weeks ago I was talking to a different boy that was on a small panel with me for the Utah County PFLAG. He was also from the LGBT center at U of U. I sat there and proudly told them all that USGA had moved into a bigger room and that we were mentioned in a small, independently student run newspaper and that we were hopeful that faculty support would come soon. Afterwards he told us about how U of U has an entire center and full university support and funds and all this stuff. I felt kind of silly, that our biggest goals at this point were to not get kicked out of our own room some weeks. I felt like we should have done more.
So back to this Thursday...one of the first questions Dylan asked me was why such a club exists here at BYU. Why would I fight for such a club? Well I looked over at all of the people standing around that room and talking and knowing how far a lot of those people have come and with out hesitating I answered "Because we NEED one. I mean, just look...". He understood what I was saying and told me that the number of people we had that night was more than the U of U center gets all week (and they're opened 6 days a week).
It may not be the best, but it's what we need, and believe me when I say we're trying our hardest to make it even better. Just seeing how much USGA has grown, from when there was ten of us sitting in a circle to now where we have an average of 45-50 people a week, it's gives me hope. We will continue to reach out and grow because that's what people here need.
I have a lot of hope for this year :)
~Bridey J
Good for you. A support group will be stronger when those involved NEED more support. I'm glad things are going well.
ReplyDeleteI have an issue with something you said. Is the University infringing upon your Freedom of Assembly? Because in my (rather uninformed) opinion that's hardly sporting and kinda unconstitutional.
And I thought you said in your report on Circling the Wagons that you had some faculty support already. Are they not able to bolster you officially?
@Blik: It's more than a support group. We're a community and a family now.
ReplyDeleteThey are not keeping us from assembling. We just have no official university support so we don't have the power to reserve our room. Many times math classes will have review sessions in the room we usually use at the same time and they take priority over us, so we temporarily become wondering nomads for the evening.
And while we have had teachers say "oh that's nice" we have yet to have someone stand up and say "yes, I will help you". It's a bit frustrating.