Now that students are back on campus, dorm rooms and apartments may be some students' safe havens. Other students have to look elsewhere.
Some gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer students look to allies from SafeZone for support. SafeZone is a voluntary network of faculty, staff and students that teaches the correct terminology and provide resources to help members of the GLBTQ community, Jay Zimmerman, SafeZone coordinator and Counseling Center psychologist, said.
"Primarily it was aimed at heterosexual allies, but more recently there have been a number of people within the [GLBTQ] community who have gone through the SafeZone training," he said.
Jenika Garetson, president of Spectrum, said many Spectrum members have gone through the training.
"It's not just for straight people. It's where you learn the correct terms and how to approach someone who's struggling," she said. "You can let people know what resources are available for someone who says ‘I'm gay and I'm struggling.'"
Zimmerman said even though some people might argue such groups aren't as needed as they once were, they are still just as important as ever.
"I would say to those people ‘walk a mile in [an GLBTQ member's] shoes,'" he said. "You would find out they're still relevant. Some members of the [GLBTQ] community have very positive experiences, some don't and educating people and raising their consciousness of the community is the best tool."
Garetson said she thinks SafeZone is important for people to gain knowledge.
"I firmly believe that education is power and that fear is stemmed from the unknown," she said. "SafeZone training specifically gets rid of the unknown and fear. I think a lot of the hate and misunderstanding comes from people not knowing."
While SafeZone allies benefit all members of the GLBTQ community, Zimmerman is coordinating a new support group called True Selves aimed for transgendered students to help one another deal with issues like medical treatment, name changes, reactions from people and other specific issues they face.
"They'll be dealing with important issues in a caring atmosphere to talk about what they're going through personally," he said.
Zimmerman said it hasn't been decided when the support group will meet, but he's working with students who have already shown interest to come up with a schedule.
It's not the first time Zimmerman has been involved in creating a group. He was one of the original faculty members involved when SafeZone was created at Ball State in the early 1990s.
"SafeZone has become a national project. A lot of universities have it now across the country," he said. "At that time, it was just a safe place on campus started by a group of students. We did counseling with them and created training, then gave students names of people who would be allies."
Zimmerman said SafeZone training has continued since then and people who go through it receive a sticker that identifies them as an ally.
"[GLBTQ] folks go through a lot of prejudice, discrimination and bias. Over time there have been things on campus that have made them at times feel less safe," he said. "SafeZone identifies allies and makes them available. For those struggling, they just need more resources. [SafeZone] serves as a support base."
SafeZone trains people to be an ally for the LGBTQ community.
Spring Semester training sessions:
Feb. 8 from 5 to 9 p.m.
March 21 from 5 to 9 p.m.
April 7 from 5 to 9 p.m.
Sign up for one of the sessions by e-mailing safezone@bsu.edu and putting the date of the session in the subject line.
True Selves is a new group to provide support for and information about being transgendered. For more information, call coordinator Jay Zimmerman at 285-1267 or e-mail him at jzimmerm@bsu.edu.
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