The Cougar Ally program at UH offers a safe place for supporters and family members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community to come together.
The program will hold its third seminar at 12:15 p.m. Tuesday in room 306 of the M.D. Anderson Memorial Library.
The Cougar Ally program’s goal is to cultivate LGBT understanding and support among heterosexuals who can assist friends and family struggling with LGBT issues.
Pioneered by Ball State University in 1992, many universities employ similar programs.
At each school, activities create safe and supportive environments in which students and faculty can obtain factual information about the LGBT community.
Headed by Beverly McPhail of the Women’s Resource Center and supported by a coalition of other departments within the University, the Cougar Ally program carries on the ‘safe zone’ idea employed by the Women’s Resource Center.
‘It was a great place to look in a safe environment at things you normally wouldn’t think about,’ senior human resources training specialist Cari Baugh said after attending the Cougar Ally flagship seminar. ‘
Regarding the seminar as a whole, Baugh said it was ‘very beneficial, and I would definitely recommend it to others.’
Ally attendee Van Stephens said, ‘It was a very excellent program.”
While the program’s main goal is to assist the LGBT community by promoting understanding, it is beneficial in other ways.
LGBT individuals who attend an Ally seminar will gain valuable insight into ideological issues that affect the community, as well as a new outlook toward other segments of the LGBT community.
But for all of its virtues, the Cougar Ally program does have one major hurdle to clear in order to bring its message to the student body at large, and that is apathy.
Though the Ally program came about in 1992, it didn’t take off until Matthew Shepard’s murder in 1998. ‘
Generally speaking, it takes a powerful social injustice to rile the public into action, and to the casual observer things are going well for the gay community. ‘
‘What’s really the point of these meetings? Our society is already moving (toward) marriage equality and equal rights; it’s going to happen. Conservatives are fighting a losing battle like they did in the ’60s,’ pre-medicine student Sean Hickey said.’
However, it’s this lack of worry that allowed the repeal of marriage equality in California and Maine.’
The U.S. has made tremendous strides forward in the past half century for gay rights, but if we want to see the end of this fight sooner rather than later, it’s going to take a concerted effort from everyone to move forward and end persecution. ‘
The LGBT community owes the Cougar Ally program and all similar organizations that promote awareness to heterosexuals a large thank you for good work done.
