Column Sneak Peek: NC State’s LGBT Center

NC State LGBT Center. The most up-to-date news right here.

Here’s a sneak peak at my next column in The Carolinian (UNCG), due out on Tuesday, October 31, 2006 at www.carolinianonline.com:

NC State’s ugly, red, anti-gay face
LGBT student center need is proven
by Matt Hill Comer, Don’t Ask (I’m Telling)

On Wednesday, October 18th, the NC State Student Senate voted 29 for and 14 against the support of establishing a campus center for LGBT students. The Senate proposal was based partly on an official University proposal for such a center.

The University proposal was prompted by NC State’s recent number 17 spot on Princeton Review’s list of the campuses most un-friendly and un-safe for LGBT students. The proposal also outlined an internal NC State study of the campus’ climate for LGBT students and noted the increased rate of suicide for LGBT students, as compared to their straight peers.

When news of the Senate decision broke in the next day’s Technician, student debate quickly spread across campus, and even across the state, as the issue was discussed by some of the delegates to a state-wide College Republicans gathering.

A good part of the debate is taking place online. Students have done what students do best: They created a Facebook group, entitled “Students against NCSU LGBT center.” At first, the debate was focused on money. Some students said they thought using student fees to build an LGBT center was unnecessary (about half of the $200,000 start up cost for the center will come from NC State’s student affairs department).

It didn’t take long, however, for NC State to show its ugly, red, anti-gay face. The flood gates were opened and the true feelings came pouring out like a river (all the improper grammar and typos belong to the authors, not me):
Yeah… you’ll have to wait ’till Tuesday for the whole thing.

Technorati Tags: NC State University, LGBT Center, LGBT, college, anti-gay, Facebook, Raleigh, North Carolina

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