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from the editor
here would we be without our allies? What if all gay, les
bian, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer people were alone in
their fight for acceptance and equality? I am gracious to have many
amazing allies in my life, such as my roommate, who was kind
enough to appear on the front cover of this issue« I m in awe of my
straight friends who constantly stick up for me, whether by walking
around campus wearing rainbow "ally" buttons, speaking up when
another student or professor makes a homophobic or heteronor-
mative remark, or simply listening to me talk about my “boy drama” without being
judgmental.
I know I’m lucky, especially looking down the road at North Carolina State
University. Students and faculty at NCSU are currently pushing for an LGBT center
like the one we have at UNC, but they are meeting much opposition. I m more wor
ried about the effects of the homophobic remarks being made in the debates around
the center than the actual non-existence of said center. Even though we have an
amazing LGBTQ office, there are people on our own campus who lack support from
their friends and feel unsafe coming out or showing affection for people of the same
gender in public. We always need visible allies who are willing to accept and defend
(not just passively tolerate) LGBTIQ students.
Our ally friends should be our role models and remind us that we have a
duty to stand up for others when they are being harassed or discriminated against.
The GLBT-SA has a history of supporting multiple social justice causes, which
included sponsoring “The Vagina Monologues" this spring. A surprising amount of
people asked me, "Why is the gay club sponsoring a feminist event?" The answer is
simple: The idea that women are less than men is the same as the idea that gay men
are less than straight men. The idea that black is less than white is the same as the
idea that intersex is less than man or woman. Oppression is all about norms and
ideas of beauty. We can’t pick and choose our battles; they are all one and the same.
I hope that this issue of LAMBDA inspires you, whether queer, straight
or something in between, to go to a club meeting you’ve never been to and speak up
when you think what someone is saying or doing might be hurting someone else.
In unity,
Robert Wells
Mission
LAMBDA IS UNC-Chapel Hill’s Lesbian-, Gay-, Bisexual-,
Transgender-, Intersex- and Queer-affirming publication,
PROVIDING A PROGRESSIVE OUTLET FOR NEVC'S, ANALYSIS, OPINION AND DIALOGUE.
As SUCH, WE ARE INHERENTLY COMMITTED TO A FEMINIST, ANTI-RACIST AND
HISTORICALLY CONSCIOUS PERSPECTIVE IN PURSUIT OF SOCIAL JUSTICE FOR ALL PEOPLE.
lambdX
Box 39
Carolina Union, CB# 5210
Chapel HiU, NC 27514
lambda@uncedu
Office: FPG Smdent Union 3512D
(919) 962-3191
•
www.unc.edu/glbtsa/lambda
Team
Robert Wells
Editor in Chief
Catherine Adamson
Content Editor
Andy McNulty
Copy Editors
Win Chesson
Managing Editor
Kimberly Fisher
Lofout Editor
Eric Velarde
Photo Editor
Alejandro Liaardo
Business Manager
Erin Black
Win Chesson
Thomas Quderay
Daniel Cothran
Kimberly Fisher
Scott Kaplan
Lori Mannette
Andy McNulty
Stephanie Novak
David Peterson
Contributors
Antoine Reid
Graphics
LAMBDA is a project of the Gay, Lesbian,
Bisexual, Transgender - Straight Alliance
This publication is funded at least in part by
student fees, which w’ere appropriated and
dispensed by the Student Government at
the University of North Carolina at Chapel HiU-
LAMBDA is printed in Benson, N.C.,
by Benson News Printing.