Ryan ChartrandThe Pride Alliance and the LGBT Center celebrated Same Sex Handholding Day Tuesday with the sixth annual March for Equality to the University Union and a Soup and Substance discussion in Chumash Auditorium.
About 70 students gathered on Dexter Lawn at 11 a.m. and marched in a line down Via Carta Road, up Perimeter Road, through The Avenue and up to the UU. Each marcher held hands with someone of the same sex.
Angela Kramer, student coordinator of the Pride Alliance, marched alongside the crowd with a megaphone and led the chant of “What do we want?” “Equality!” “When do we want it?” “Now!” One student gave Kramer a high five as she passed the group on Via Carta Road.
Marchers carried signs that read “Marriage is not a special right. It’s a human right,” and “Diversity is our strength.”
When the march ended at the UU, the club took Polaroid pictures of each of the marching pairs and then sat as a group to listen to Kramer speak.
“We are still fighting an uphill battle for equality,” she said. “I encourage each and every one of you to erase apathy from you dictionaries and to fight for what you believe in.”
The crowd cheered with approval.
Liberal studies freshman Katja Davis and architectural engineering freshman Jen Ton both members of the Pride Alliance, participated in the march for the first time. As they walked through The Avenue, Davis said they received a generally positive reaction; she saw smiles and some people clapped in support of the group.
“People were really surprised,” said Amy Narevsky, a liberal studies sophomore and a student coordinator for the Pride Alliance. Narevsky said she thought during the march they had caught people off guard, as she had seen a few looks of confusion.
“But I think that’s an essential part of the march,” she said, noting that a lot of people on campus don’t know about the Pride Alliance.
“It’s a weird thing for people to have to protest for equal rights,” said mechanical engineering senior Drew Atkinson, who was sitting in the UU when the march concluded. “It’s not something you should have to fight for.”
The march was followed by Soup and Substance, a luncheon and discussion of the controversy over equal rights for gays. Two Cal Poly staff members spoke about their experiences of being out and how they had been warmly accepted in the Cal Poly community.
“That’s the focus of this year: making people feel comfortable being out,” said Kramer. She said she hoped with faculty and staff being out, it will make students more comfortable being out.
“I wish it wasn’t as scary for people to be out,” said Kyle Stevens, a city and regional planning sophomore and a member of the Pride Alliance. Stevens participated in the march Tuesday for the second year and attended the Soup and Substance talk. A Palm Springs native, he expressed his frustration for the small LGBT community in San Luis Obispo having no outlet. He said there used to be specific nights for gays at Tortilla Flats and The Grad, but those no longer exist.
Missi Bullock and Marilyn Allison, who spoke at the luncheon, are both Cal Poly graduates and current staff members. The two have been together for 11 years and have a 2-year-old daughter, Landen. Bullock is the head teacher at the ASI children’s center and Allison works for Housing and Residential Life.
“It was never a question to me of ‘Will I be out?'” Bullock said.
Bullock and Allison spoke of how the laws are slowly changing to accommodate same-sex couples. The two have been officially registered as domestic partners for more than six years, which gives them certain rights, like filing jointly for taxes, but still does not give them other rights that are afforded to married couples by the state.
However, the couple said they “have felt nothing but love, support and acceptance” from the Cal Poly community.
“ASI treated it as a non-issue,” Allison said.
Erin Echols, the new coordinator for the Pride Alliance and the LBGT Center, was pleased with the event.
“We haven’t seen this many people yet this year at Soup and Substance,” she said. Echols started as the new coordinator for the center in September after moving to the Central Coast from New Hampshire.
Kramer concluded the discussion, thanking everyone that had come out to support the event.
“I’m glad to see that we have some visibility and support around campus,” she said.