Call Me Ally

GLSEN (http://www.allyweek.org/)

301 pledges signed. This was more than double what we expected last week. After years and years of having to lead the charge for GLBT related issues on campus, I find myself lucky this semester to have a group of energized students who took charge and organized an ally pledge signing to support GLSEN's Ally Week activities.

Usually on campus, the Queers & Allies group set up tables outside the cafeteria and watch people avoid us as they walk with their eyes entranced by the nothingness of the opposite wall simply so they don't make eye contact with the happy queers. This week, though, people came in numbers to the table, signing pledges to be voices against gay bullying.

More support became apparent on Spirit Day, October 20th, when people sported purple shirts, purple ribbons, purple anything to call attention to the recent suicides of LGBT youth. Colleagues stopped me in the hallway, pointing out the purple they donned; some others emailed me to describe their outfit, telling me they had looked for me so I could see their purple. These displays bring some hope after weeks of reading one news story after another about another queer youth committing suicide, after reading more constipation from the Obama camp regarding DADT, and after years of feeling like if I don't fight for some change on campus, nobody will.