UCLA needs to show more support to LGBT community and reach out to high school students
Fourth-year Maria Yefimova and third-year Kory Border, both nursing students, attended the candlelight vigil on Oct. 6 to mourn the deaths of gay students across the nation who had been bullied and attacked by their peers.
By Salim Zymet
Oct. 26, 2010 12:42 a.m.
What do Barack Obama, Ke$ha and Hillary Clinton have in common?
They’ve all posted “It Gets Better” videos on YouTube. Moved to action by the recent and tragic suicides of six gay teens, celebrities and politicians alike have come out in full force to send a powerful message to gay teens ““ bullying exists, it’s horrible, but you can survive it and you can live a happy life in this country. Vice Chancellor Janina Montero joined their ranks when she sent out an e-mail to the student body deploring the tragedy and pointing students towards the proper campus services.
UCLA should be commended for its response to the suicides, even if it lagged behind other efforts.
All six suicides occurred in September, and the first “It Gets Better” video was posted on Sept. 21 by Dan Savage, a sex columnist. Since then, millions of views have racked up on YouTube. Of the six suicides, two were 13-year-old boys in middle school, two were high school students and two were college students.
UCLA should have reacted sooner to such an important national tragedy. Twenty-two days into October is 22 days too late. UCLA is considered by most to be a liberal campus, and such assertions seem to ring true, but the campus could still do more to create a friendlier environment for the gay community.
There are more than 1,000 suicides committed each year on college campuses. One in six students admits to being bullied multiple times each month. Gay students are four times more likely to commit suicide, at least in part because of said bullying. This is the story the statistics tell. But it isn’t the story of UCLA.
If this campus is any indication, this does not have to be the nationwide story playing out as we speak.
UCLA already has tremendous services for the gay community on campus. But if there’s more room for improvement at UCLA, it would have to do with the way colleges and universities reach out to high school students, said Micheal Boucai, a fellow at the Williams Institute. The Williams Institute is the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transsexual arm of UCLA’s School of Law and frequently publishes research on the subject.
“The admissions office could do a better job at conveying to high school students just how rich and diverse the LGBT community is on campus. The “˜It Gets Better’ message is something universities are in a very good position to tell potential students,” Boucai said.
Indeed, the chancellor himself ought to post an “It Gets Better” video on his Facebook page. Following that, UCLA needs to do more to reach out to middle and high school students. At the very least, prospective students need to be made fully aware of the services UCLA provides through advertising of the university’s services in high schools and through orientation.
UCLA could send liaisons to various high schools in the L.A. area to get the word out about gay rights issues in general and what UCLA does to combat them. If middle and high school students are aware of the existence of such a gay-friendly university, they may be less likely to get depressed and commit suicide in the first place. While we’re in high school, it’s easy to think that life begins at 15 and ends at 18, and such thoughts are particularly dangerous for LGBT students who are bullied.
For UCLA to be a resource to Southern California as a place where homosexuality is accepted and respected, it must broaden its outreach to those least likely to know about the ample services the university provides. Working closer with high school counselors who deal with LGBT issues is a step toward achieving this goal.
Anyone who attends UCLA would agree that we’re a gay-friendly campus. The centers, the clubs and the students in general are all generally supportive of the LGBT community. Despite that, the campus isn’t perfect, and the LGBT Resource Center is well aware of that fact. Random or not-so-random acts of violence and anti-LGBT demonstrations right outside the center’s doorstep have both occurred in the past, Adelin Lo, office manager for the LGBT Resource Center, said.
To combat anti-gay sentiments, the LGBT center, in conjunction with Counseling and Psychological Services as well as other organizations, has put on two events in the past month which dealt directly with the recent suicides and other LGBT issues.
The center also provides its own counseling services for students who are dealing with issues of homosexuality.
UCLA is well equipped to deal with issues facing the gay community but needs to respond to national issues sooner and do a better job at reaching out to students who don’t have the benefit of attending the university.
Are you LGBT friendly? E-mail Salim at [email protected]. Send general comments to [email protected].
