Wednesday, August 24, 2011
A colossal navy blue and yellow bus sat at the Kansas Union Wednesday as a symbol for the LGBT community.
Passersby examined the tents, pamphlets and panels of “On the Road to Equality,” a bus tour created to promote LGBT equality and challenge discrimination.
The Human Rights Campaign bus sits outside the Kansas Union Wednesday afternoon for the campaign's "On the Road to Equality" tour. The University of Kansas was the third stop of the tour which will go nationwide to educate the public and empower LGBT people.
The tour was launched by a Washington D.C.-based organization called the Human Rights Campaign, and runs from Aug. 12 to Oct. 30, spanning 17 cities throughout the South and Midwest. Lawrence was the fourth stop on the trip.
“One of the things that we find really, really powerful is just simple conversation between folks,” said Candace Gingrich-Jones, renowned LGBT-rights activist and an associate director of The Human Rights Campaign.
According to the group, none of the states on the tour have statewide recognition of same-sex relationships nor do they mention sexual orientation or gender identity in their non-discrimination laws.
“If somebody picks on you because of the color of your skin or your religion, you can do something about it,” Gingrich-Jones said. “But if you’re an LGBT kid, or somebody just thinks that you’re queer, there’s no protection for you.”
Some may argue that there are places in Kansas other than Lawrence that the bus tour should consider. How influential is their message in a town that is arguably the state’s most tolerant of LGBT communities?
However, Gingrich-Jones said that while many college campuses are already supportive of LGBT issues, students also need to be moved to act.
She acknowledged that the tour may be preaching to the choir.
“But is the choir singing?” Gingrich-Jones said.
Mayor Aron Cromwell, who attended the event, said that this kind of message is vital to an academic environment.
“This sort of event is exactly what should be happening here,” Cromwell said.
In 1995, Lawrence became the only city in Kansas to add sexual orientation to its non-discrimination policy. Cromwell said that Wichita introduced a similar policy in the 1970s, but it was quickly repealed.
Cromwell said that he hoped to soon introduce legislation to include gender identity in the city’s non-discrimination policy. However, he said he was cautious about trying to change too much too fast.
“We are dependent on Topeka for a lot of things,” Cromwell said. “So we have to be careful.”
Timmy Hewitt, a junior from Arkansas City, set up a tent across from the bus to recruit students for Delta Lambda Phi, a fraternity for gay, bisexual and progressive men.
Hewitt said he was concerned that with politics becoming more divided, LGBT rights were being “thrown under the bus.”
“I think that the college-aged people need to go ahead and take over already,” he said.
Student-led activism is what Gingrich-Jones said she is hoping to accomplish with the bus tour.
“The students here at KU, they’re the future school board members, the future mayors, members of Congress,” she said. “They’re going to be the decision makers. And to engage folks now, generally tends to keep folks engaged.”
— Edited by Jennifer DiDonato
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