The LGBTQ organization on campus spoke this month about Safe Space, their budget, and upcoming events at Texas A&M University-San Antonio.
The Coalition met Oct. 9 in the Science and Technology Building. The meeting was led by Coalition President Di’shanic Holt and Vice President John Quiróz, who informed the group of upcoming volunteer opportunities.
“If anyone has any ideas or anything they would like to see on campus, just tell me and I will let it be known…I will make sure it happens,” Quiróz said.
Quiróz opened the floor for suggestions regarding raising awareness for the organization. One student asked about the school’s Safe Space signs posted around campus offices, suggesting the Coalition inform students on what Safe Space is.
According to the A&M-San Antonio student handbook, a Safe Space at A&M-San Antonio is a person that is highly visible and easily identifiable to the LGBTQ community who can provide a safe space for students. A Safe Space is where support and understanding are key and bigotry and discrimination are not tolerated.
For a list of trained faculty and staff with Safe Space certifications, students can visit the site below: http://www.tamusa.edu/studentengagementsuccess/safe-space/friendly-faculty-staff/task-force-members.html
“That person (with the sign on their door) has been trained to talk to students of LGBT or who are going through something,” Quiróz said. “They go through sensitivity training.”
The meeting had over 20 students in attendance, which Orozco said was an impressive turnout.
“This is probably the largest group I’ve seen in Coalition in almost two years. This is great,” Orozco said. “Every student in here is a representative of at least five to 10 students that are not ‘out’.”
A student made the suggestion to incorporate the Coalition’s budget toward helping bring awareness about Safe Space on campus, LGBTQ events and HIV awareness and prevention.
“‘Y’all have a massive budget to work with, $7,000 and another check coming in this month,” Orozco said. “With $7,000, most clubs here on campus don’t have that.”
For their involvement with Pride San Antonio, the Coalition is receiving a check for $5,500, to add to their budget. The majority of The Coalition’s budget comes from being a beneficiary of Pride.
Orozco expressed the importance of what the Coalition does.
“People in Texas can actually be fired from their jobs, evicted from their homes, denied benefits…just because they decided to either get married or come out,” Orozco said.
The Coalition’s next meeting is 1 p.m.-1:50 p.m. Nov. 6 in Room 166A of the Science and Technology Building. For more information, visit https://tamusa.campuslabs.com/engage/organization/coalition.
