Brite Signal Alliance, a gay straight club on campus hopes to promote equality among the GLBT students at Sinclair Community College.
In 2009, Professor Robbin Hoopes, who is the faculty advisor for the Brite Signal Alliance saw a need for a club that encompassed gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, queer and straight allies.
“I knew we needed at least 10 students to be a club,” Hoopes said. “ I started to put up flyers around the campus.”
With little advertisement, 40 students showed up at the meeting the first day. Hoopes then asked the students if they wanted monthly meetings. All students responded adamantly that weekly meetings were preferred. The club increased from 40 to well over 100 members.
The club meets every Wednesday in Building 13 Room 205 at 5 to 6 p.m.
Hoopes realized that a student club was an imperative when GLBT students began coming to him for support or advice. “I’m one of the few openly gay professors on this campus,” Hoopes said. “Somehow the students found out and they would come to me for advice about issues in their lives.”
In one instance, a student was having a really tough time. His parents had kicked him out of his family’s home for being gay, and he didn’t have anywhere to go. Hoopes said he tried to give the student some advice and emotional support because there was no support at the student’s house.
Then Hoopes asked the student, “Isn’t there a gay straight alliance here on campus that can help you so you don’t feel so alone?”
The students response was no.
Hoopes then did some investigation on his own and found that indeed; there were no gay or lesbian support clubs on campus.
“Overwhelmingly the faculty and staff have been supportive of the club. But there are few people that are not supportive and are antagonistic,” Hoopes said.
Those who are against the support group, Hoopes said, argue that being gay is a choice. By arguing that it is a choice, they can then argue that is should be discouraged, legally prohibited, or even criminalized.
“The way I look at it is that there have been gay people throughout history, so I’m not going to get into an argument as to whether it is a choice or not,” he said. “As a college, we know that we have GLBT students, always have, and always will. I want to help those students feel less alienated and feel connected to the college and their peers, so that they can pursue their educational goals and develop into happy, healthy members of the community.”
Hoopes said over the years he has gotten tougher, but he realizes that gay or lesbian students in their 20s are at a fragile time in their lives.
“It is sometimes hard when there is always an undercurrent of discrimination. Sometimes you get tired of it,” he said. “But the group can be helpful for students because they have that feeling of support and being connected to other gay or lesbian students.”
But Hoopes knows that the club is not about him it about the students. In the past, the students have done several fundraising events. The students are raising money to put into Sinclair’s Academic Foundation.
“The goal is to one-day give two Sinclair students scholarships annually – one for a GLBT student and one for a straight ally,” he said. “The students are using their money now to put it into giving these two scholarships. They won’t see the money themselves but are doing it to help those students in the future.”
For the past two years, the students have held a Diversity Rally in the spring, bringing in leaders from the community to raise awareness about GLBT students.
“The college is about diversity,” Hoopes said. “ If we never mention gay or lesbian students, that can hurt more than if there was never a diversity initiative on campus.”
The core mission of the club, Hoopes said is to help students who have suffered from taunting, bullying and/or self-loathing, the kind of alienating social dynamics that cause an extremely high suicide rate among GLBT students.
“It is endless, the self-loathing and isolation that GLBT youth often feel,” he said. “And you can’t necessarily control the actions of others. Perhaps you can’t get bullying to stop or taunting to stop. You can’t change all people’s perceptions and hurtful actions. But a place like Sinclair is in a unique position to help GLBT students find the strength to persevere on a journey that can otherwise be so lonely and lacking in affirmation.”