By Greg Grisolano
ggrisolano@joplinglobe.com
PITTSBURG, Kan. — A group of Pittsburg State University students is hoping to send a message with a week’s worth of events aimed at promoting equality for gays and lesbians.
“We want people to understand that everybody is an individual and nobody should be discriminated against,” said Andrew Boyd, vice president of PSU’s Gay-Straight Alliance. “Our main message is that discrimination has no place in the world, especially on Pitt State’s campus.”
“Gorilla Pride: Unity in the Community” is the theme for a week of activities at PSU designed to bring people together regardless of sexual orientation.
Boyd said highlights include an opening day rally from 2 to 4 p.m. today at Gorilla Village. Pastor Steve Urie from the Metro Christian Center in Joplin, Mo., will be the speaker.
Boyd said today’s rally also will focus on a series of protests being staged by some Missouri Southern State University students advocating for change in the Joplin school’s nondiscrimination policy. Boyd and other members of the PSU group have been participating in weekly sit-ins at MSSU to push for the inclusion of sexual orientation in the university’s policy.
“We’re going to spend a little bit of time talking about what’s going on at Missouri Southern, and we expect them to show up,” he said. “We’re there for them and they’re there for us every step of the way.”
PSU’s nondiscrimination policy includes language that provides protection for openly gay faculty and staff members. Students and faculty members at MSSU have lobbied the university to amend its policy to include similar language.
Hillary Fogerty, an English professor at MSSU and the faculty adviser for the university’s Equality Alliance, said the support of peer organizations such as the PSU Gay-Straight Alliance has been important.
“Knowing that another school this close is that progressive, it has made the students very excited,” she said. “It means it’s possible to (change).”
At 6 p.m. Tuesday, the program will be “A Night of Togetherness.” Donald Pile and Ray Williams, the first gay couple from Kansas to be legally married in California and known as “The Gay Travelers,” will speak in Room 409 of Russ Hall.
On Wednesday, the movie “Rent” will be shown at 7 p.m. in the Crimson and Gold Ballroom of the Overman Student Center. From 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. that day, free, anonymous HIV-AIDS tests will be provided to PSU students at the Student Health Center. Appointments are suggested, but walk-ins will be seen and tested based on availability.
Activities will conclude Thursday with “Trivia Time” from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. on the Oval.
