This week, the Queer Student Alliance club used their voices to make it known on campus what is happening in our world. Recently, it has been headlining in the news that the Trump administration is making efforts to eliminate basic transgender rights.
This action brought on by the administration has caused numerous people around the world to wonder if anyone is safe anymore to express their identity. The Queer Student Alliance, also known as QSA, took action and wanted to make a change.
This week, these brave students tabled around campus trying to educate and inform their fellow Seawolves about what the Trump administration is planning to do and how we as students can make a difference.
The Trump administration is currently working to remove the rights of transgender people, stating that individuals will only be identified with what genitals they were born with. When a person is born, if they are born male or female, that is what they will be identified by their entire life. The transgender community is then disregarded, not being able to express their true identities.
Trump’s Department of Health and Human Services is working towards making a new interpretation of Title IX, the federal civil rights law that prevents sex discrimination.
The soon to be drafted proposal would eliminate protection for anyone in the transgender community, disposing of laws that would protect a person that identifies as transgender in any setting, including housing, the workplace, health care, as well as schools.
The QSA club recognized this loss of acceptance and safety and knew the word needed to be spread on campus.
President of the QSA club, Kendall Andrews, was the driving force behind the club’s decision to table, explaining that what is happening in the presidential administration is not acceptable and people need to be aware.
The club was designed to be a safe space for queer students to find a support system within Sonoma State University. The club promotes acceptance throughout campus as well as creating events that support the LGBTQ+ community. Recently, the QSA club held a discussion circle for students and staff in the HUB center. Andrews stated that it was designed to give people in the queer community, as well as anyone that wanted to join, a way to express their feelings.
The club works hard to create discussion circles as well as a safe environment for anyone that wants to join, no matter what they identify as. Andrews states, “I urge people to Google, educate themselves on what transgender means and support their transgender friends.”
The club has been receiving great deals of support from Seawolves, many stopping and listening to what the QSA club has to say about Trump’s administration trying to eliminate transgender rights.
Andrews stated, “A lot of calls are being made to representatives, we have had students competing against other students to see who can get ahold of them first.”
The QSA club had printed out pages while tabling with the numbers of representatives to call as well as a script if someone has phone anxiety. They decorated their table with bubbles, posters, coloring books and homemade anti-Trump whistles that students can make and use around campus.
The club is educating the students of changes that can be made by the current presidential administration as well as giving Seawolves an easy way to call in and support the LGBTQ+ community.
Sonoma State students and members of the QSA club, Emerson Robles-Tuttle and Elliott Pickett, accompanied Andrews while tabling.
The students voiced the concerns of unacceptance that can be created if people do not start taking initiative. Pickett states, “Please vote, your voice does matter!”
The calls and the efforts made by the students is what needs to occur. The QSA club is using the voices of their club members to get the word out on campus and helping make an impact.
