Some Baker University students, staff and faculty members donned the color purple Wednesday in memory, and in honor of at least six students who have committed suicide in the past few months for being abused for being gay.
“The message that I hope to get across to the public is that treating anybody as less than a human, for any reason, ever, is not fun and games, and that it does damage that is huge, severe and irreversible,” junior Joylin Hall said.
On Sept. 22, freshman Tyler Clementi, a student at Rutgers University in New Jersey, jumped off the George Washington Bridge and into the Hudson River. Clementi committed suicide because he was allegedly webcammed with a man in his room by his roommate, Dharun Ravi.
“His parents lost a wonderful son, and we’ve lost a wonderful human being,” Emanuel Sosinky, president of the Ridgewood Symphony Orchestra, which Clementi performed with, said in an interview with People magazine Oct. 18.
While the death of at least six students has been in the news around the country, some at Baker believe the deaths are a wake-up call.
“The suicides in the last month or so were, and are, absolutely tragic,” Hall said. “This has been a big wake-up call to a lot of people and I really hope that the long-term impact of these horrific losses is a significant step toward a chance of the general public’s perspective on homophobia.”
The Baker University Gay-Straight Alliance will be showing the film “Bullied” at 9 p.m. Thursday in Owens AV Room in Owens Musical Arts Building.
“We’ve got to make a difference, we’ve got to educate, we’ve got to make a difference and get the word out that bullying and hate can’t happen,”
GSA adviser Matthew Potterton said. “We have to provide a place, an outlet, for people to come and share their feelings and express themselves so they don’t feel the need to do the horrible things, like taking their lives.”
While GSA is raising awareness on Baker’s campus, the group looks to raise awareness in the Baldwin City community as well.
“One of GSA’s next main agendas is to partner with, and support, high school GSA chapters in the area as much as possible,” Hall said. “As important as I believe it is to have a GSA in college, this is really not the arena where it is needed the most. High school students are such incredibly vicious beings, so focused on their own appearances and the appearances of everybody else, and so judgmental of differences. The ones who see the bullying going and disapprove often lack the maturity, judgment and courage to do anything about it.”
Potterton also is working with the group to secure the Baldwin First United Methodist Church as a Safe Space for Baldwin City.
“Since I’ve been here, I’ve been working hard to get that church as a declared Safe Space,” Potterton said. “I’ve talked to my GSA group about what they might be able to move that along and they are willing … There is quite a push for Baldwin First (United Methodist Church) to become a Safe Space … I think that is a step in getting the community involved and aware.”
