Daylong event to educate campus, community on LGBTQ bullying
‘Life Gets Better Together’ started as an a cappella concert to help lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth considering suicide.
But now, 15 Syracuse University students are expanding the concert into a daylong campus event.
The first daylong conference is Saturday in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. Organizers want to educate the SU community about LGBTQ bullying. The conference kicks off at 10 a.m. with a complimentary breakfast in Newhouse III and concludes with an a cappella concert in Hendricks Chapel at 8 p.m.
‘Life Gets Better Together’ aims to show students, faculty and community members how they can make a difference in the lives of LGBTQ youth who are struggling with bullying problems, said Deanna Payson, co-chair of the conference and a senior political science major.
‘SU students are in a unique position to become leaders in change,’ Payson said.
There will be 12 workshops during the day, she said. The LGBT Resource Center, faculty members, graduate students and members from The Trevor Project are preparing workshops for audiences of students, educators and social workers.
The ‘Life Gets Better Together’ project stems from The Trevor Project. The Trevor Project began in 1998 and derived from an award-winning film in which a gay 13-year-old boy attempts suicide. The project wants to end suicide by providing life-affirming resources, according to the group’s website.
SU a cappella groups, including The Mandarins, Otto Tunes, Orange Appeal, Oy Cappella and Main Squeeze, will perform Saturday.
With a growth in LGBTQ bullying and youth suicides in society and media, Payson said she and co-chair Liam Fitzpatrick saw a need to raise awareness on campus. The two have been working to create this event since last August.
The group of students preparing the event have seen the repetitive media narrative of bullied and suicidal LGBTQ youth and wanted to do their part in ending that cycle, Payson said.
As a member of the LGBTQ community, senior architecture major Bryan McKinney said he is excited to attend the conference.
‘I’ve been a victim of violence, and I’ve been a victim of discrimination,’ McKinney said. ‘It motivates me to do my part.’
McKinney said he thinks this conference is a reaction to the illusion that the SU campus is more accepting of the LGBTQ community than it actually is.
‘It’s time to wake up, Syracuse,’ McKinney said. ‘You need to do something about this. You need to fix this.’
Brenda Wrigley, chair of the public relations department in Newhouse, will be speaking on a panel during the conference discussing diversity in the media. As a member of the LGBTQ community and an educator, Wrigley said she believes there is no such thing as being too aware of diversity, especially in a media setting.
‘I hope that people walk away from this conference with a better understanding of just how important these issues are,’ she said.
Payson said she hopes the ‘Life Gets Better Together’ conference will give students the insight and skills needed to make changes in their everyday lives.
‘I would hope that (SU students) would have their eyes opened,’ Payson said. ‘Hopefully people will realize the pervasive nature of stereotypes, of LGBT hatred.’
Published on March 21, 2012 at 12:00 pm
