Students call for tolerance

Student Government Board hosted a town hall meeting focusing on the gay, lesbian, bisexual… Student Government Board hosted a town hall meeting focusing on the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities yesterday night.

“As elected officials, we’re supposed to represent every student on campus,” President Shady Henien said. “We should accept everyone, and that is what I would expect from every student at the University of Pittsburgh.”

The first issue brought up by the students in attendance was the lack of a sensitivity training program.

“We do love how the allocations committee and the SGB has handled the Rainbow Alliance financially, but supporting our organization doesn’t just mean giving us the money,” Rainbow Alliance President Aaron Arnold said, making a call for programs such as the possible sensitivity training program to be required for every student at Pitt.

Another topic discussed was the lack of housing for the GLBT community.

“It was extremely upsetting and frustrating,” one freshman said of the grief he received from floormates after telling them that he was gay. The prejudice resulted in the student having to move to a different residence hall.

“I stood up for myself, but some people do not,” said the student, who would have preferred “gender-blind housing.”

“That was my biggest issue of coming out,” another student said. “Not to my friends or family, but to the roommates on my floor.” This student did mention, however, that his floormates were more receptive to his sexual identity.

Carnegie Mellon University recently created a co-ed housing option, which as one student said, is “similar, but not exactly the same” as what many of the students in attendance were advocating.

The turnout at the meeting was especially noticeable, with students almost completely filling the William Pitt Union’s lower lounge.

“This is probably our largest town hall meeting of the year,” board member Joshua Carl said.