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GLBTSS to focus on building community
Office looks at starting alumni chapter, classes on 'queer theory'
By Allison Bailey
abaile19@mscd.edu

Photo by Chuck Iversen • civerse1@mscd.edu Friends and employees of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Student Services welcomed new and returning students Aug. 29 at their office in the Tivoli room 213. Students dined on cuisine from Little India and conversed with other students involved with the group. UCDHSC and Metro State were recognized as two of the top 100 colleges in the country in “The Advocate College Guide for LGBT Students.”

The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Student Services at Auraria held its annual welcome-back reception on Tuesday, Aug. 29 at their office in the Tivoli.

“We want to start the semester on the right foot and we use (the reception) to get word out about events for this semester,” said Nico Baker, director of GLBTSS.

The reception lasted from 10:30 a.m. until 2 p.m., and more than 150 students, faculty and community members dropped in to enjoy free food and to chat with members and supporters of GLBTSS.

“We’re really excited,” Baker said. “It’s a great turnout and it bodes well for campus involvement.”

October is GLBT awareness month, and the organization has several events planned, including their annual High Tea for Allies, several discussion groups, debates, guest speakers and the Radical Knitting Circle. This fall the group will also hold movie lunches on Mondays from noon to 2 p.m.

Another big event GLBTSS will participate in this fall is the AIDS Walk Colorado. The Auraria Higher Education Center, CCD, Metro and UCD have sponsored the Auraria Walk Team for the past 12 years and will do so again this September.

Baker said this year’s reception was also a celebration because both Metro and UCD were listed in “The Advocate’s College Guide for LGBT Students” guide as two of the top 100 schools for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students.

“It’s an amazing campus,” he said, mentioning that High Tea for Allies was sponsored by many different departments at Auraria.

Metro student Tory Lipsey dropped by the reception to meet new people, learn more about GLBTSS and eat some free food.

This is Lipsey’s second semester at Metro, but his first semester being involved with GLBTSS. Lipsey appreciates the sense of community the organization offers.

“You kind of feel lonely when you don’t know anybody,” he said.

This year GLBTSS is focusing on community building in order to start dialogues about issues such as domestic partnerships and gender-neutral bathrooms. It is also starting an alumni chapter. Another issue the group would like to address is the building of “queer theory” classes at Metro, which would focus on the gay community, how it came to be and why it is needed. According to Baker, CU and several other schools around the country currently offer these classes.

GLBTSS at Auraria was started at Metro in 1992 in response to several political issues involving gay rights, including Amendment 2.

According to the GLBTSS website, the Office of Student Activities began to require that clubs and organizations wishing to be officially recognized by the college sign a non-discrimination agreement that included sexual orientation. Several religious groups wished to be excluded from this policy and gained an exemption.

In response to rallies and petitions from gay and lesbian rights groups, the college organized a task force to address the issue. One of the top recommendations from the task force was that an organization be formed to support the needs of gay and lesbian students on campus.

Student fees fund the organization, and its office is located in the Tivoli Student Union, Room 213.

Visit its website at http://www.glbtss.org.