Spectrum, Auburn’s gay-straight alliance, is celebrating its 26th birthday this year.
Spectrum Director of Social Affairs Dylan Clark, sophomore in business, said members of Spectrum celebrated at a LGBTQ+ friendly restaurant, Derailed Bar and Grill in Opelika.
“We welcomed members of both Spectrum and the public to eat with us and celebrate,” Clark said.
Paving the way for an LGBTQ+ club on campus didn’t come easy for Spectrum.
“Back in 1990, a small group of people tried to get together and form a gay straight alliance on campus to protect members of gender, sexual and romantic minorities," Clark said. "There was definitely some backlash if you look back at some of the old Glomerata’s or ask some of the older members of the community. They can tell you that there was some pushback from both people from the University and of course a lot of people on campus. People in the community were concerned of the implications of something like that could have.”
The Human Rights Campaign Foundation and the Equality Federation Institute recently issued a report on Auburn, compared to 506 other cities in the country. It gave the city a zero out of 100 rating for equality and inclusion for LGBTQ+ people, making it one of the eight worst cities for the LGBTQ+ community in the United States.
“Spectrum in response to that wants to make sure that we can make that rating higher, and also defend what we’ve done and that the progress over the past years with safe spaces and raising awareness does not go unnoticed,” Clark said.
Clark said Spectrum feels it still has a lot to get done even though it's been on campus for 26 years.
“One of the main things Spectrum tries to do since we’re with a university and educational institution is spread information and awareness," Clark said. "We want people to stay educated with things concerning our community."
“We do what we can to make people aware of what we go through and what they can do to either work with us, or what we can do together to cooperate and develop as a community,” Clark said. “Overall, compared to 26 years ago, things have definitely gotten a lot better."
Spectrum also wants people feel safe and protected on campus, Clark said.
“Educational institutions are protected under title IX protections, which prohibits discrimination based on sex and gender, etcetera," Clark said. "We want to make sure organizations, places on campus, including faculty and staff, and some buildings are marked as safe spaces that people can feel comfortable in."
With the elections now over some of Spectrum’s membership was shaken by the Republican majority, Clark said, though Spectrum does not have any official statement against either candidate.
Newly elected Vice President of the United States Mike Pence proposed cutting off funds for HIV prevention and diverting the money to conversion therapy in 2000 as a member of Congress.
Pence also gave a speech in 2006 in which he said marriage equality would lead to a “societal collapse.” In the same speech, Pence called homosexuality a "choice" and said keeping gays from marrying was not discrimination, but rather an enforcement of “God’s idea.”
“Spectrum, both as the officers and the general members, wants to try to make sure to be activists out there in the community without exactly endorsing a particular candidate or calling one out in particular, or aligning ourselves with a particular party since we know that people of gender, sexual and romantic minorities can come from a wide spectrum of political associations and beliefs,” Clark said. “We did send a message out to some of our membership who may have been shaken or upset by some of the turnouts saying, ‘We’re still standing together, stay strong, stay proud and stay hopeful,’”
With respect to the 2016 election, Spectrum focused on raising awareness of party platforms regarding LGBTQ+ issues. They encouraged people to vote, be activists and to work with their party and community, Clark said.
“With Spectrum in general, we’re really wanting to pick up activity since the 2016 elections are over,” Clark said. “We want to make sure to spread a message of hope and encouragement to those who may be discouraged by things, and we want people to feel comfortable on campus and for the community to stay hopeful and to stay proud.”
When asked what advice he’d give to those who feel anxious or stressed about the election results, Clark said, he encourages people to remember "change is not something that happens overnight.”
“In these next few months, we need to take advantage of the time that we do have to protect our rights and to plan for the future both in a hopeful and smart way, so we can increase our rights and make sure that we don’t tread on any boundaries and reduce the amount of hate as much as we can," Clark said.
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