Students band together to offer hope

Eighteen-year-old Tyler Clementi, a Rutgers freshman, ended his life on Sept. 22 by jumping off the George Washington Bridge, making him one of six gay teens who have committed suicide in a three-week span.

UCF students are now doing everything they can to stop that number from ever reaching that height again.

EQUAL, UCF's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender student organization, hosted a video message drive Tuesday night.

Nearly 90 people attended the event to benefit writer and activist Dan Savage's "It Gets Better" project, a mission to reduce the number of recent teen suicides across the country.

EQUAL students brought laptops and webcams to encourage students to make personal video statements for young teenagers who may not have an LGBTQ community to turn to.

"Twelve people killed themselves today," UCF alumna and keynote speaker Alex Wall said as the meeting opened. "About nine of them are gay. These deaths are because society makes gay kids feel bad for being who you are. This drive is made to show younger teens that it gets better."

After Wall's opening statement, Student Development and Enrollment Services Vice President Maribeth Ehasz and other SDES officials came up to show their support of UCF's LGBTQ community.

"We want UCF to be a community that you're proud of," Ehasz said to students. "We don't want you to be afraid to come to us."

SDES officials also spoke on the various support resources available at UCF for students. That included the 24/7 Counseling Center hotline — 407-823-2811 — the OSRR Incident Report — 407-823-6960 — and Knight Allies, an on-campus group committed to bettering UCF's LGBTQ community made for those who don't identify as LGBTQ.

Officials also discussed the importance of speaking up when a friend may need help.

"You can save a life by taking that step," SDES counselor Stacy Pearson said, "by helping a friend get a resource they may need."

SDES also noted that all these resources were covered under a statewide confidentiality agreement.

After speaking on the available resources currently at UCF, Ehasz then held a question-and-answer session with students to see what they believed could also be done to help UCF's LGBTQ community.

Senior Gabrielle Shulruff spoke about LGBTQ students facing discrimination from classmates, but also from faculty members. This brought up an issue of diversity training for professors that includes gay, lesbian and transgender students.

"Simple documentation is very important to this process," Pearson said. "It not only lets us know what's happening, but it lets us know who needs the help."

Students also used the time to speak about their concerns about gender identity and the school's refusal to add it to the Anti-Discrimination Policy.

Unhappy with Ehasz's response, a student began debating with her during the Q&A.

Wall stepped in with her own statement.

"I'm sure Dr. Ehasz is giving you the most honest, nonpolitical answer she can give," Wall said. "There aren't many college administrators that will come to a gay meeting and tell you that they're there for you."

Wall then spoke to students on bullying, gay bashing and ways to handle the situation.

"Social openness should be available to everyone," she said. "This includes the gay kids and those guys who wear trenchcoats to class."

After Wall's speech, students made their way to the computers around the room. Students gave their personal testimonies about their own experiences with bullying.

"I was bullied in high school, all the way back to middle school," EQUAL President Matthew Patterson said in his testimony. "It made me question, at times, possibly committing suicide. I know. But even through the coming-out process, it does get better. So go out, try to find groups of people like you. It will give you a sense of community and will really make you feel like you belong somewhere."