The Gay-Straight Alliance, a new initiative on campus that was organized to make it easier for students to live together and relate to each other in residential communities, kicked off Wednesday with a social in the lobby of Evangeline Hall.
Charles Beard, residence life coordinator for Annie Boyd, Evangeline, Highland and Louise Garig residence halls, played an integral role in getting the initiative started on campus.
Beard said Residential Life is constantly looking for ways to promote diversity in the halls.
“We do have a [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning] community,” Beard said. “There’s not a whole lot of support in the halls.”
Beard started the initiative along with East Campus Apartments residence life coordinator Allie Miller and two students.
Spectrum, a student organization supporting the LGBTQ community, is clearly present on campus, but Beard said GSA will be geared specifically to help on-campus residents.
Beard said GSA is collaborating with Spectrum to run a program at a GSA event next month.
Beard said he had the idea to start GSA after years of observing students in the residence halls.
“This is kind of like, ‘Let’s be proactive,’ and hopefully it will help prevent intolerance,” Beard said.
The two students who helped Beard organize GSA, biological sciences junior Joan Broussard and math freshman Spencer Roby, both said they were excited about the turnout at the event.
Broussard said GSA posted fliers in Evangeline Hall, and the event drew several supporters from other residence halls by word of mouth. She said she’s confident the initiative will get bigger as time goes on.
“Spirits are pretty high right now,” she said.
Ian Watson, biological sciences senior and one of the event’s attendees, said he went to the social because he wanted to show support for the LGBTQ community on campus.
Watson said he hopes students who are questioning their own sexuality feel comfortable asking      questions and getting information.
“This is a good atmosphere,” Watson said.
Coincidentally, this Monday is National Coming Out Day, a day set aside each year that encourages LGBTQ people across the country to reveal their sexuality to family and friends.
Spectrum celebrated Thursday in Free Speech Plaza by setting up a rainbow-colored doorway for students to “come out” of.
Kat Barry, English senior and Spectrum president, said National Coming Out Day was specifically planned so as not to coincide with any major holidays.
“It’s helpful because people can come out to their family and friends, and they don’t have to worry about it ‘ruining’ a holiday,” Barry said.
Barry said Spectrum welcomed anyone who wanted to walk through the doorway to come out as whatever they identify with.
She said the rainbow-decorated doorway drew a lot of attention from curious passersby who all seemed receptive to the idea.
“Visibility has been something we really struggle with,” Barry said. “This is one of the few chances for us to be visible.”
Barry said she didn’t receive any negative feedback while Spectrum was outside Thursday, but the group has experienced prejudice in the past.
She said the group once participated in a day of silence, and people approached them and ripped up their fliers in front of them, but participants couldn’t say anything to object without breaking their silence.
Barry believes the turnout at events like National Coming Out Day and the GSA meeting means students are becoming more tolerant and informed.
“It’s becoming less and less cool to be openly homophobic,” Barry said.
Spectrum also held a memorial Thursday night in remembrance of the seven teenage boys who’ve committed suicide in the past month after being bullied about their sexual orientation.
The event consisted of a memorial prayer for the boys and their families and a speaker from the Baton Rouge Crisis Intervention Center who offered students suicide prevention and awareness training.
Afterward, attendees were encouraged to write letters to schools asking for stricter policies regarding bullying, create art for an anti-bullying campaign or write their own stories to share with others.
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Contact Rachel Warren at [email protected]