As the student population at Colorado Mesa University grows, so does the LGBT community on campus. The Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) under CMU’s Cultural Diversity Board (CDB) welcomes students of all backgrounds to its ranks; working to create an inclusive environment and improve the quality of life for LGBT-identifying students.
Shelby Cerise, director of CDB, highlights the role of the GSA on campus. “The biggest [event] we do is the drag show, which will now be bi-annual,” Cerise said.
The most recent drag show took place Sept. 30 and drew 250 students, most of whom had never attended a drag show before. The event also raised $600 for Transcend, a transgender community group, based in Grand Junction.
The other primary event put on by the GSA takes place Oct. 11 and features a panel of professors. GSA members answer questions that students may have about their own identities or about the LGBT community.
“Most of [GSA] is education,” Cerise said.
The group aims to bring awareness of LGBT issues to the CMU campus, in addition to providing support for students. The alliance works with outside organizations such as One Colorado, to hold summits and meetings for high school students as well.
“We’re facilitating this unspoken bond,” Cerise said.
By helping high school gay-straight alliances with development and meetings, she says CMU establishes itself as a safe place for the younger population of the LGBT community also.
With the growing LGBT population on campus, the GSA pursues more inclusive policies and environments for university students.
“The biggest project we’re doing right now is having unisex bathrooms in each building,” Cerise said.
For transgender and nonbinary-identifying students, communal bathrooms in traditional residence halls pose challenges and often result in students prematurely moving off campus or dorm-hopping from one building to another. Members of the GSA hope to create a LGBT-inclusive hall or floor in one of the residence halls on campus.
“We really want to reach out to folks that are already here on campus and let them know why we’re here, who we are and what we’re for,” Cerise said. “Our alliances are not just for people who fall under that minority.”
The attendance at GSA meetings varies from roughly 20 students to over 70, and Cerise welcomes all students to attend an event hosted by the GSA to learn more about the LGBT campus population and show support for their peers.
“We also say to students that LGBT people are just your fellow students,” Cerise said. “There’s nothing that makes them different in a bad way. It’s diversity, but it’s not separation.”
