BY DANIEL SAENZ
It is no secret to anyone that Kansas is a conservative state. However, here at Fort Hays, the Gay-Straight Alliance has formed in order to raise awareness of LGBT people as well as the struggles and subcultures within the LGBT community.
GSA held their first meeting on Wednesday night and there are no special requirements for being a member of the organization, as it focuses more on the cause rather than people. One of the main goals of the organization is to serve as a safe space for LGBT students.
In other words, the group wants to make LGBT students feel comfortable without feeling that there will be any debate about it. This is in the same vein as Organizations such as the African Student Union, Chinese Student Union, and Black Student Union. Tim Krug, president of the Gay-Straight Alliance feels that the organization has made substantial gains.
“I feel that there is a more prominent pro-LGBT feeling within the community then there was previously,” said Krug.
As for plans for the upcoming semester, Krug says that overall goal is to become even more involved.
“We were not really involved one hundred percent,: Krug said. “However, this semester, we are going full steam ahead.”
In fact, one of the main events that GSA is planning is a drag queen and drag king fashion show towards the end of the semester. Auditions for that will open up soon.
The GSA appears to reinforce a common societal trend that I have seen in many of my escapades abroad. And in particular, it appears that the more conservative a society is, the more that groups such as the GSA seem to pop up.
For example, when I was studying in Morocco, there was a student organization known as the Rainbow Kids, which aimed to promote LGBT awareness in Morocco –which is a conservative-Islamic society and is often quite hostile to the LGBT community.
Just as the Chinese, Black, and African student unions on campus aim to promote ethnic diversity, the GSA aims to emphasize a human rights area, albeit in a more subtle way. Stay tuned to Tiger Media Network for further coverage on this organization and its events.