Late last Friday night, Hopkins students gathered in Nolan’s to attend an event hosted by the Diverse Sexuality and Gender Alliance (DSAGA). The event, called “Hopkins Against Hate”, was comprised of a trivia competition, a burrito eating contest, and a round of karaoke singing. Teams of three or more students competed against each other and raised a total of four-hundred and thirty dollars for The Trevor Project charity.
“[The Trevor Project] is an LGBT suicide hotline,” Patrick Armstrong, the DSAGA member in charge of marketing the event, explained. The Trevor Project started with an HBO movie (Trevor 1994) about a gay boy who tries to commit suicide.
Realizing that there was no hotline for suicidal LGBT teens, the filmmaking crew decided to start the Trevor Lifeline. The ‘Lifeline’ has since become ‘The Project’. It aims to end suicide among youth by maintaining a 24/7 hotline, digital community and various support/advocacy groups geared toward sustaining a positive community for everyone.
DSAGA chose this charity in response to six suicides that have been committed by LBGT youth in the last month.
“We were doing this to promote awareness discrimination that occurs in both the LGBT community . . . and with young people in general,” Armstrong said.
One of the DSAGA presidents, Connie Calderon, also spoke of the need to raise awareness on campus of issues in the LGBT community.
“When I try to describe the atmosphere [towards the LGBT community] on campus, the word I come up with is ‘indifferent,’” she said. “I feel like people are just really into their schoolwork or things like that, and not really aware.”
However, she thought that the Friday night event was a successful start to DSAGA’s efforts.
“I think throughout the night we had about 90 to 100 people there . . . which was a little more than I was expecting,” she said. “The turnout was great.”
DSAGA community liaison Mikki Lambert estimate of attendance at the event was slightly lower, at around 70 people.
“I didn’t really know what to expect [in regards to turnout,] because I didn’t really know what the attitude on campus was,” she said.
She did agree with Calderon that the event was “a good start” to increasing awareness of LGBT issues and acceptance of the LGBT community on campus.
When asked about the general atmosphere for LBGT students at Hopkins, Armstrong said “It’s on the rise.”
He suggested that it could be improved upon by creating a safe space for LGBT students to go. “Currently, there really isn’t one besides the counseling center and the DSAGA office — which is really small.”
In terms of other steps that Hopkins has made in the right direction, this marks the first year that the counseling center will have a LGBT counseling support group. There are increasingly more groups appearing around campus where support is offered for those who are out of the closet already and where questioning individuals can get help coming to terms with their sexuality.
Calderon also discussed the new counseling group.
“It’s a welcoming community . . . and it’s a place where people who are questioning their sexuality or having issues coming out or anything can come and talk,” she said. “It can be a hard issue for an individual.”
Additionally, it should be noted that straight people are also included among DSAGA’s ranks — or ‘Straight Allies’ as they are called.
“I would like to thank everyone who showed up to the event,” Armstrong said in closing. “Anyone can feel free to come to our meetings, and keep your eyes out for our future charity events!”
This Monday DSAGA also recognized National Coming Out Day, in which they constructed a door frame to represent the “closet” that LGBT individuals step out of when they make their identity public. Students who passed through the doorway received free cookies and were also able to donate towards the club’s collection for the Trevor Project. The amount of money raised at that event is not yet certain.
Calderon explained that DSAGA will continue collecting for the charity until next Friday. Students can contribute through the club’s Facebook group or through contact with any of the DSAGA officers.
