Ally Week events encourage support for LGBTQ community

Aaron Kinsfather kept track of the order of every person he came out to.

The 17th person – his older sister – became his pillar of support during his turbulent high school years. She stuck with him throughout his coming out process, which was one of the most trying times in his life, he said.

“She was there for me throughout my experience,” said Kinsfather, a first-year psychology student.

Kinsfather said he thinks his sister’s unconditional support allowed him to be open up about his identity and serve as a student facilitator for Wednesday night’s Q&A; Misconceptions Panel, which was part of UCLA’s annual Ally Week.

The Undergraduate Students Association Council worked with UCLA’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Campus Resource Center to host a weeklong series of events meant to educate students on ways to support the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer campus community.

“There are a lot more issues that we are facing aside from marriage equality. And those (issues) tend to get pushed to the side,” said Rashmi Raviprasad, a second-year astrophysics student and the director of Ally Week.

The week kicked off on Monday with the theme of “Recognize.” The day included a hand painting mural and photoshoot in front of the LGBT Center. Later that night, Robyn Ochs, a leading LGBT rights activist, spoke to students about bisexuality.

Nicole Vestal, a third-year anthropology student and the USAC Internal Vice President’s chief of staff, said about 25 students listened to Ochs’ discussion about the multifaceted nature of sexual identity and gender representation.

She said she thought the event’s environment allowed students to open up more candidly about a wide spectrum of sexual preferences and identities.

Tuesday, which was themed “Educate,” featured a dinner with faculty members, a resource fair about campus-specific counseling, advocacy and education tools and a screening of an episode of MTV’s “The Real World: San Francisco,” which captured the story of Pedro Zamora, one of the first openly gay men with AIDS portrayed in popular media.

Kinsfather said he thinks allies have a larger impact than they realize during the coming out process for members of the LGBTQ community.

When allies listen without presuming certain stereotypes, they give members of the LGBTQ community the opportunity to define their gender and sexuality for themselves, he said.

“It strikes a negative chord when someone says, ‘I always knew.’ It’s slightly insulting,” Kinsfather said.

Sophie Zanders, a first-year undeclared student and LGBTQ ally, said she thinks a good ally is someone who does not treat a person differently because of their sexuality or gender identity.

“(An ally) should support how people feel and who they can love,” Zanders said.

More than 60 students attended a question-and-answer panel on Wednesday, when the theme was “Question and Listen Day,” to ask student speakers about misconceptions people may have about the LGBTQ community on campus.

Some discussions at Wednesday night’s panel touched on ways to approach complex family dynamics during and after the coming out process.

One student in the audience asked panelists how to talk to a younger cousin whose mother discovered her son was gay after finding a letter he wrote to his boyfriend.

Raviprasad, standing on the side of the room, stepped forward to answer the student’s question. She said that if she were in that situation, she would be happy if her mother openly talked about her sexuality.

“That would mean some part of her would accept it,” she said.

Raviprasad decided to get involved with the planning of Ally Week after listening to speakers during last year’s events. She organized the week to highlight certain topics on specific days and to underscore the overarching theme of “Love, Support, Advocate.”

On Thursday, the LGBT Resource Center hosted a social event, Spring Fling, to highlight the theme of “Support.”

Later that day, students gathered in Carnesale Commons to listen to representatives from different religious communities discuss the intersections between religion and sexuality.

On Friday, a public art gallery outside the LGBT Center will depict the “Initiate, Change and Celebrate” theme of the day. The event will showcase a micro-aggressions wall, composed of bricks with negative comments directed toward LGBTQ students written on each block.

Students will be able to knock down the brick wall at the end of the day.

Ally Week ends Saturday with an Ally Training session from noon to 3 p.m. in Carnesale Commons room Hermosa AB.