By Evan Sandel
The Scene staff
The club known as “Voices” for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students is returning to the Forest Park campus after a four-year absence.
“For me, the goal of the club is for (LGBT students) to know that they have advocates here on campus that support them,” said Nakita Anthony, one of the club’s sponsors. “(And to) know that they have somebody to talk to, because a lot of them don’t know that we’re here on campus and that there are safe spaces on campus that they can go to.”
Anthony graduated from Forest Park with an associate’s degree in teacher education. She’s been attending and/or working on campus for 11 years and now serves as a librarian for the media services department.
Anthony looked into re-establishing Voices after being approached by a group of students who felt a need for a more prominent LGBT community on campus. Their goals include community service and fun.
“They want to have a Halloween party,” Anthony said. “They also want to work with the LGBT Center of St. Louis and St. Louis Effort for AIDS.”
One of the main student organizers is Brandon Haywood, 22, an early childhood education major. He wanted to see the club established not only for current Forest Park students, but for future generations.
“I see (LGBT) people who want to have friends, but they’re scared to,” he said. “There are people here who know they are homosexual but don’t know who to come out to, who to be friends with or how to be themselves.”
Voices meetings are being held at 2 p.m. Wednesdays in the Campus Life office (Student Center 101A). They’re led by students and open to all. Other sponsors are Layla Goushey of the English department and Kirk Martin of the physical education department.
In other LGBT news, Forest Park hosted a Safe Zone training session Sept. 26 in Cafeteria West for faculty and staff willing to serve as LGBT advocates and provide support to students who need help.
The three-hour training was led by James R.W. Linsin, coordinator of Outreach, Health, Wellness and Counseling Services at University of Missouri-St. Louis.
“I teach attendees to be more aware of issues facing LGBT individuals in the U.S,” he said. “It’s not really a lecture format. I introduce activities that generate discussion, which helps increase awareness.”
Forest Park students can identify Safe Zone faculty and staff by looking for Safe Zone stickers on their doors.
Linsin said Safe Zone programs are becoming increasingly common on college and university campuses around the county and are important to the image of St. Louis Community College.
“I think the purposes of Safe Zones are to convey to the students, faculty and staff on a particular campus that everyone is welcome regardless of their sexual orientation or gender expression,” he said. “I think it is another way to get the word out about that and promote the idea of STLCC as an open and accepting place.”
St. Louis Effort for AIDS used to send an AIDS testing van to the Forest Park campus on a monthly basis, a tradition Voices would like to see return.
“The monthly visit gave kids the opportunity to come and get tested, pass out some condoms and (raise) awareness,” Anthony said.
Forest Park’s previous LGBT club disbanded due to a large number of active members graduating and subsequent lack of participation, Anthony said.
“A lot of the kids who signed up would never agree to meeting days or come to events when we tried to set up meetings, and it just kind of lost its way,” she said.
Anthony feels the new Voices will be more successful.
“The students actually came to me and told me they wanted the group,” she said. “They knew I was involved in it, and they’re really running the wheel. I’m just making sure they stay within college guidelines.”