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March unites student allies for Pride Week
By Roxanna Asgarian
The rally led students to the Austin leg of a larger initiative called Seven Straight Nights for Equal Rights, a nationwide series of all-night vigils across more than 30 American cities from Oct. 7 to Oct. 13. This event coincides with UT's Pride Week, which ends Friday. Atticus Circle and Soulforce, two Texas-based groups, initiated the concept this year as a way to give straight allies of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community the opportunity to show support for equal rights. Atticus Circle, a national nonprofit organization, educates and mobilizes fair-minded straight people to advance equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer partners, parents and their children, according to the group's Web site. Straight allies of the gay community rarely get a chance to show their support, and rallies get straight students involved in the cause, said Jake Gonzales, a UT alum and executive director of the Campus Alliance for Progress. Gonzales helped organize the student rally that led to the all-night vigil at the Capitol. Among the marchers were about 15 students from the School of Social Work's Social Justice Action Coalition, who came out as a group to support the gay community. "A lot of us have worked at schools where we've experienced discrimination against LGBT youth, so it's an opportunity to step in and actually represent as an ally and effect change on some level," said Don Titcombe, a social work graduate student. Eli Oldham, a radio-television-film sophomore and Queer Students Alliance spokesman, said that Atticus Circle approached the alliance to enlist support of the student population for this event. "Young adults are the future and it's important to see that a change is being made," Oldham said. The concern for many lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer groups is that, without allies, they may be viewed simply as a disenfranchised group, whereas if the majority groups vocalize support, more attention will be given to their cause, Gonzales said. For this reason, the focus of the rally and the vigil was on straight supporters of equal rights. "Everybody has been invited, but we've taken extra care to invite our straight allies," Gonzales said. Gonzales said he was surprised at the support of Wednesday's rally showcased on the social networking Web site Facebook.com. "It's heartening in a way, to see that students care as much about this as everyone else," Gonzales said. Another vigil will be held in Houston at 6 p.m. today at the Montrose Counseling Center. The Texan strives to present all information fairly, accurately and completely.
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