Mel Passler, a junior music education major, was very open about her sexuality, recalling how she came out to her mom in the car when she was 16 years old.

‘She froze for about five minutes, then she cried for about another five minutes, then she got over it,’ Passler joked about her mom’s reaction. ‘Now she goes to Pride with me every year.’

Passler attended the Chalk the Quad event Wednesday night in front of Hendricks Chapel, which was co-sponsored by the LGBT Resource Center and Pride Union. The event was created for students to share their coming out and support stories while writing inspirational messages on the Quad, said Nick Haas, president of Pride Union.

Haas, a senior environmental resources engineering major, has been working in Pride Union for about three years. He said his favorite part of the event is the support and social activism it offers.

‘It is a way of peacefully protesting, and it builds a sense of community,’ Haas said. ‘It’s fun, but it also accomplishes something.’

Haas said he hopes the event proves to be thought provoking to other students as they walk through the Quad.

‘Even if students read just one message, it will get them to stop and think,’ he said.

Students who attended the event said visibility is very important for the LGBT community, and this event is a way for students to make their issues heard.

Passler said she hopes the event will help fulfill her goal to get students to ‘say one less hateful thing throughout the day.’

Jamie Bellemare, a senior broadcast journalism, political science and women and gender studies major, said she believes it is a good, central event to stand by the LGBT community.

‘We are here in support of ourselves and our friends,’ Bellemare said as she drew a rainbow at the intersection of Huntington Beard Crouse Hall and Hinds Hall. ‘We want to raise awareness for those who don’t feel comfortable coming out and let them know we support them,’ said Bellemare.

Jesse Paez, a marriage and family counseling graduate student, went for similar reasons. He said he wants people to know that it’s OK to come out because others will support them. Paez also said he wants people to become more aware.

Across the Quad, in hopes of helping others accept themselves for who they are, Paez wrote: ‘Love urself, be true to urself, give thanks to urself, take pride in urself, quiet no longer urself.’

alpodesz@syr.edu

Published on October 5, 2011 at 12:00 pm