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Above: Professor Chuck Stone
speaks at the start of Ally Week.
: Ally Week
started off
with a bang
on Jan. 31
outside the
Student
Union. Vol
unteers dis
tributed food,
buttons and
pamphlets;
speeches
were heard from Vice Chancellor
P^ggy Jablonski, Professor Chuck
Stone and a prepared statement was
read from Bernadette Gray-Little,
dean of the College of Arts and
Sciences.
That evening, the local chapter
of Parents, Families and Friends of
Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) held
its monthly meeting in Carmichael
Residence Hall. Thirty-six students,
parents and staff members spanning
the spectrum of sexual orientations
exchanged stories and discussed
what the ally and queer communities
can do for each other. Participants
shared their thoughts on open-ended
prompts such as “A good ally....”
Separate cards were distributed to
LGBTIQ-identified individuals and
alhes to spark conversation.
The festivities continued Feb. 1
with the GLBT-SA’s annual Student
Body President Forum. Pressing top
ics such as LGBTIQ theme housing
and gender neutral bathrooms were
raised, as were past issues such as
Alpha Iota Omega’s lawsuit against
UNC, last semester’s Kiss-In and the
Elyse Crystall incident. Tom Jensen
garnered some cheers from GLBT-
SA members after claiming that he
would willingly kiss another male in
the Pit for the next Kiss-In.
The first event on Feb. 2 was a
Super-SHAH (Social Hour and a homosexuality were shattered when
Half) sponsored by the LGBTQ a fellow minister came out to him
Office. For about 90 minutes, queers after being forced out of the church
and allies casually chatted over light due to his sexual orientation. Creech
snacks. LGBTQ 101 followed, draw- immediately began doing historical
ing a crowd of some 20 students, and biblical research and came to the
Matching games involving different conclusion that homosexuality and
symbols in the LGBTIQ community Christianity do not conflict. He then
were played and the origins of these became an advocate of LGBTIQ
symbols were discussed. rights to the extent of performing
The week s main event, the Ally same-gender unions, costing him his
Panel, took place before the regularly congregation and his ministry. Creech
scheduled GLBT-SA general body is working with the progressive
meeting Feb. 3. Two student allies and organization Soulforce to promote
Assistant Dean of Students Melinda equality for everyone.
Manning spoke about the importance Jason Wang, coordinator of the
and pressures of being an ally. planning committee for Ally Week,
They also discussed what made said he was happy with the atten-
them decide to become involved tion brought to the need for unity
with the LGBTIQ community. A between the queer community and
statement was also prepared by sod- its straight allies,
ology graduate student Natalia Deeb- “I’m proud that Ally Week helped
Sossa and read by student ally Sarah bring new people into (the) GLBT-
Trumble, the evening’s facilitator. The SA,” said Wang. “It helped us all
meeting was followed by a question realize how important it is for LG-
and answer session. BTQ folk and their allies to stand
The weekend brought a queer together.”
film festival with several LGBT-
themed movies. The first to be
shown were “Fire,” a contro
versial film about a lesbian love
affair in India, and “The Edge
of Seventeen,” a gay teenager’s
coming of age story set in the
late 1980s. “Sunday Bloody
Sunday,” the story of a love
triangle between a gay man, a
straight woman and a bisexual
man, and “Ma Vie en Rose,”
the tale of a transgender youth,
were shown Feb. 5.
The week conduded Feb. 7
when former United Methodist
Minister Jimmy Creech spoke to
students about his experiences
as an ally. Creech explained how his
preconceived prejudices against
5)
Above: Robin Allen, left, and first-year student
Brittany Wofford at a PFLAG meeting
! I