The LGBTQIA+ community, both at the University of Wyoming and in the City of Laramie, has fallen victim to many incidents targeting who they are and what they stand for, particularly over the past two weeks. Members and community allies have voiced their thoughts on these events and the feelings they evoked.
“There have been many incidents against the LGBTQIA+ community within the past week. It is really scary that all of this is happening,” Willow Greiner, a freshman, said.
Greiner, who is part of the LGBTQIA+ community, recounted feeling angry that an event occurred where an individual was specifically targeted.
“The fact that the university allowed something like this to happen and got rid of it with very little more than a slap on the wrist is scary. It almost sends the message that it is okay to say hateful things, just not one person’s name.”
“The university needs to step up and do something. This is not okay that events like this happen. It needs to stop,” Greiner said.
Greiner believes the university has done inadequate work to stop events like this from occurring and thinks the message from President Ed Seidel on Mon. Dec. 5 was hollow. Instead, they see the support that was shown by fellow students for the targeted individual as a huge step forward.
Paul Flesher, Director of the American Heritage Center, took the time to highlight the university’s role in providing safe spaces for educational learning and promoting the First Amendment.
“UW is a place designed for a broad education, often education in many matters that students did not learn from their families or communities,” Flesher said. “Students should be able to learn about, experience, and experiment with different scientific ideas and practices.”
Flesher believes that for some students, the university plays a parental role and, as such, should protect students from outside entities that could harm them.
“As a professor of Religious Studies and long-time [former] head of the Religious Studies department, I will point out that the constitution guarantees the right of freedom of worship as it does the freedom of expression,” Flesher said.
“These rights mean that Americans have the freedom to not-worship as they see fit and to pursue lifestyles they wish to live.”
Kim Chestnut, Vice President of Student Affairs and Interim Vice President for the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, referred to Seidel’s statement, released earlier that day, at a vigil for the victims of the Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs.
“For you all, I want you to know that we genuinely want to work to support you in the best way that we can,” Chestnut said.
“In our hearts, we’re supporting you, and we want to understand what actions we can take that really make you feel welcome. I understand the depth of what you’re feeling in terms of not feeling safe, and I hope you believe that we will amend this issue.”
Chestnut’s remarks not only referred to students’ general safety on campus but the fact that the vigil had initially been planned for Friday, Dec. 2, but due to events that occurred within the Union Breezeway was canceled, then rescheduled and moved locations for the attendee’s safety.
The statement from the university sparked controversy, encouraging students and staff to show their disappointment in a silent protest on Dec. 7 in the Simpson’s Plaza.
Keely Kidd, a UW freshman and one of the protest organizers, was among the first to announce plans for a student-led protest.
“I am not pleased with the treatment of queer students on campus, and I know others weren’t, either,” Kidd said.
Others at the protest voiced similar thoughts to Kidd, such as senior psychology major Racheal Pinkham.
“Any LGBTQ+ safe space that has ever existed at UW has been created by queer students. We have been burned, historically and in the present day, by UW’s silence, empty platitudes, and sanctioning of hate,” Pinkham said.
“We have to take things into our own hands – nobody will listen to us otherwise.”
Aside from voicing their opinions over the last couple of weeks, protesters also discussed how unsafe they felt on campus and what they would like to see happen in the future.
“Just last Thursday, I was called a faggot from a random car for no reason. I spend every minute on campus expecting to get attacked for the [pride] pins on my bag,” junior Peri Hennigar said.
Others said they used to feel safe, but in light of recent events, their feeling of security has changed.
“I often feel safe, and maybe it’s because of the queer community on campus, but last week and specifically Friday, made me afraid for myself and my friends,” sophomore Hannah Bertland said. “We have a right not to live in fear on our own campus.”
During Wednesday’s protest, President Ed Seidel released a statement announcing the banning of Todd Schmit from campus to try and appeal to members and allies of the LGBTQIA+ community.
“Following a review of the Dec. 2 incident in the Wyoming Union involving the harassment of a UW student by an individual external to the university, we have determined that these actions violated the university policy prohibiting discrimination and harassment,” the statement read.
“Given this, the individual’s privileges to reserve a table in the Union have been suspended for one year.”
Since the announcement of Seidel’s original statement, multiple organizations across campus voiced their support for the LGBTQIA+ community through a variety of statements, as well as listing themselves as a resource and ally to all who need it.
