Students and faculty gathered at Blair Hall Tuesday evening to celebrate Nan Whaley’s proclamation of April 7 as “Love Win’s Day.” The campus organization “Love Wins” held events for students starting at 6:00 p.m. The event was free to attend and included a presentation by keynote speaker Shane Windmeyer, the premier of Sinclair’s own “It Gets Better” video, a question and answer panel filled with local and state organizations, and even a teaser for the Sinclair Theatre production “Songs for a New World.”
Associate Provost of Sinclair Community College Kathleen Cleary came in support of the event and read the declaration of Nan Whaley to ring in the day.
“Whereas the city of Dayton Ohio recognizes that human diversity and uniqueness should be celebrated and encouraged across the nation; and whereas Sinclair community college is an integral part of the Dayton community serving roughly one in three families in the Dayton area, and whereas an important part of Sinclair’s mission is to challenge individuals to broaden their concepts of self, expand their views of the world and recognize their roles in a global society by fostering values that respect and celebrate diversity while promoting social responsibility while promoting social responsibility critical thinking communication and innovation, and whereas the Love Wins project was founded in order to serve Sinclair was founded to serve Sinclair’s mission was founded to by fostering an Inclusive environment in which all are supported, regardless of race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation and whereas Love Wins Project has hosted a series of events to celebrate love including panel discussions a workshop…. Now therefore, I Nan Whaley mayor of the city of Dayton hereby proclaim April 7 as Love Wins Day,” Cleary reported.
The event kicked off with a screening of Rubi Girls, a documentary by Wright State alumni and owner of the Neon Jonathon McNeal. The documentary showcases the group of drag performers that’s raised over a million dollars for HIV/AIDS and gay related causes over a period of thirty years. The film was well received by the audience, earning a standing ovation and filling the room with laughter.
“Rubi” in Rubi Girls is taken from Rubicon Street here in Dayton. Members of the Rubi Girls attended the event.
Following the showing of the film, refreshments were provided for a light intermission.
Amy Stamper, president of Brite Signal Alliance commented on the importance of all the organization’s part in the event, “It shows we’re still here, still fighting for their equality, and to make sure the campus is a diverse culture.”
Following an introduction by Kate Geiselman the keynote speaker Shane Windmeyer took the stage and began his presentation, “The Power of Hate.”
Windmeyer shared his story about coming out in a small rural town and his positive experience with a fraternity.
Windmeyer followed up his story, “And so one of the things I like to do is not to forget my story but also share the stories of those who can’t be here today, who we only remember through headlines.”
Windmeyer would proceed to share research findings on the experiences of those in the LGBT spectrum as they pertain to college.
“A third of lesbian gay and bisexual students considered leaving their campus as a result of a challenging climate…now this statistic is the students that we know about…We don’t know the number of students who left the college, they’re gone.”
Among issues relating to the intersectionality of race, sexuality and gender identity, Windmeyer discussed the common realities of college campuses and how students and staff often feel they have to compromise their identities—or face more persecution for who they are.
“So it’s 2010, and we still have more than half of faculty students and staff hiding their sexual identity or gender identity on campus. That’s the state of higher education for LGBTQ people. And as we know, if we expect our students to come out on campus, then our faculty and staff should too.”
Windmeyer zeroed in on the absence of LGBTQ inclusive policies that parallel the methods used to create and record data on groups like minorities, men, and women who attend colleges. He contends that through adding an option to applications for out LGBTQ individuals, obtaining data on retention and policy effectiveness may be facilitated.
“This is the issue that higher education needs to be looking at when it comes to retention, and academic success of LGBT students.”
In Windmeyer’s view, taking the next step at Sinclair means to consider adopting the Campus Pride Index.
The Campus Pride Index is an online tool that shows, when it comes to policy, program and practice how your college can continue to improve the conditions for LGBTQ students. It ranks colleges from 1 to 5 stars on over 10 key sections.
Universities can make the choice to publish the results they receive from Campus Pride, or to keep them private. Making the choice to publish the results, even if they aren’t pretty, Windmeyer believes serves as a “free recruiting tool” for colleges.
“…There’s no such thing as a completely safe and welcoming campus, but what [LGBTQ students] are looking for is a campus that says, ‘you know what, we have one star, we have two stars, we have three stars whatever it is, we want to be out, we want to take responsibility and we want to get better.”
Next Love Wins premiered the Sinclair “It Gets Better” video, a project filmed in February in which many students and staff of Sinclair participated to record their own messages of encouragement, support and acceptance. The videos aim to provide LBGTQ individuals with inspiration that the troubles they face in this moment can be overcome; that life gets better and that there is a community out there that cares about them—including at Sinclair Community College.
After the video the panel question and answer session began, with representatives from Dayton and Ohio affiliated groups. Non-profit Have a Gay Day, Aids Resource Ohio, Rubi Girls, GLSEN, PFLAG were all among the panel.
The Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) and the Employment Non-Discrimination Ac (ENDA) were both hot topics in the crowd. Rubi Girl Joshua Stucky weighed in:
“I think the Supreme Court’s going to handle all of it. We’re not going to have to worry about it. I think what happened in Indiana is the absolute best thing that could have happened leading into June. Because now, the Supreme Court can say we saw what happened there, we know that now the public is in general leaning the other way. It was good timing.”
To find out more about the Love Wins Project, visit their Facebook page and check the campus calendar for future events.
Barton Kleen
Social Media Editor