*Pictured is the group that participated in this activity in the classroom, the title slide of the RSO's presentation, and my star that I filled out.*
I was really looking forward to the first event I signed up for. This event was an RSO meeting on October 6th. I didn’t know it was going to be a meeting, but the event description sounded really intriguing. At this GSA meeting, we learned more about the LGBTQ+ community. The main point of this event was also to go through a simulation of the coming out process. By going through an example of this process, we are better able to understand the pressure that others are put through and be a better ally to them. I chose to attend this event because I feel that it is very important and necessary to gain empathy and awareness for those in the LGBT community. You never really know how much of a positive impact you could make in someone’s life just by being there for them and not being judgmental towards them. It doesn’t hurt to be an ally; it can only help. What matters is that you are trying to make a positive difference in yourself. It’s very important to me to make changes in myself that help me be more supportive of others. This event is a great way to engage with diverse communities here at Central. Because I am not a part of the LGBT community, it’s a great way to better myself as an ally and provide the support they appreciate. We started off the meeting by picking up a colored star. We then wrote something in each of the five points of the star. The points were as follows: a friend, a group we are a part of, a family member, our career/job title, and what we want to do in the future. After we had those written, we started the coming out process. We would come out to each point of the star respectively. First, we came out to a close friend. This is the part where we understand the importance of support and empathy as the different colored stars had different outcomes during the coming out process. Statistics were listed for each category as well. Fortunately, my job, family, friends, and everything else I associated myself with would be accepted in the example due to my blue star. However, that was not the case for most others. Sometimes they would be accepted over time or sometimes not at all. The part that struck me the most was hearing about how many kids lost their homes or jobs from coming out. It’s heartbreaking and eye-opening. Luckily, we also discussed these problems to bring light to them and work to process them. We spoke about Lucas’s experience and the relationship between religion and sexual orientation. I’m glad we were able to speak about it after learning more. I think this activity had a very powerful impact on me and how I view diverse communities on our campus. It’s important to stand in someone’s shoes to realize the differences between how you live your lives. I’m extremely thankful I was able to take this step toward becoming a better ally.
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