Students from the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community as well as allied students gathered Monday afternoon in the Quad’s new Honors Village Commons for LGBT Services’ Welcome Back Social.
LGBT Services provides programming on campus to address LGBT concerns in the N.C. State community.
Sam Morris, graduate adviser for LGBT Issues, said the event was to give LGBT students and allies a chance to mingle and provide information about upcoming events.
“It’s a typically conservative campus and because of that we have a lot of things we have to overcome and we are working to do that,” Morris said.
Dr. Richard Tyler, counselor in the student affairs counseling center, said The Princeton Review recently ranked NCSU as the 17th least accepting school of alternative lifestyles. Tyler added that he sees many LGBT students struggling for acceptance.
“I still feel there is a great deal of unknown [among the straight community],” he said.
LGBT hosted “Everyone Welcome Here” week in the past, but LGBT services dropped it in lieu of a series of regular events over the semester. LGBT Services plans to host monthly lunch events for faculty and staff and monthly evening events for students, among other things.
“[It is] nice for the LGBT students to go somewhere where they can be themselves if they don’t have that already,” Jeremy Hall, a sophomore in computer science, said.
According to Hall, NCSU’s campus is not the most open to LGBT students.
“I feel more comfortable in Raleigh than on campus,” Hall said. “The biggest problem here is apathy.”
According to the LGBT brochure, the organization is collaborating with Identity Defined and plans to attend classes, residence halls and staff meetings to educate the campus about concerns for LGBT individuals in the community.
Hall said he helps organize Coffee Talks, an informal social network for LGBT students.
“Creating Coffee Talks was to create a safe neutral space… where people can come and hang out,” Tyler said. Coffee talks, Tyler added, provides a social situation free of activism.
Tyler said he sees many LGBT students struggling for acceptance but there is some positive change.
“I’ve seen some growth and it’s encouraging, but there is still a long way to go,” he said.
The LGBT was established in May 2005 and strives to create a more welcoming and inclusive climate on campus, according to the brochure. One of the goals of the organization is to facilitate cross-cultural dialogue to break down the barriers responsible for discrimination.
The group has also created a resource library from which people can borrow various media on LGBT themes.
Morris currently has a desk in 3114 Talley Student Center, but LGBT Services is working to get its own resource center to better serve the estimated five to 10 percent of the student population that is LGBT, he indicated.
“We’re just working to create an open, affirming and supporting environment for students here at N.C. State,” Morris said.