More than 30 students from San Diego State University’s LGBT Student Union staged a rally on the Freedom Steps of the university’s Aztec Center May 9 to increase awareness of the prejudice and harassment still felt by GLBT and other minority students on campuses and to gain support from the student body and faculty for future initiatives.

The rally and protest were prompted by an incident that occurred last month during the school’s Pride Week on April 3-8. The LGBT Student Union claims their rainbow flag was stolen from the Aztec Center’s student union area when it was on public display. The flag hung most of the week, but disappeared between the evening of April 7 and the morning of April 8, according to LGBT Resource Center director Ben Cartwright. He said this is the third time the flag has been stolen in the past eight years and that a police report was filed. The flag incident was the catalyst for voicing their misgivings surrounding the GLBT climate at SDSU, Cartwright said.

“It’s kind of a culture of indifference and covert intolerance that we’ve been feeling for several years,” Cartwright said. “The fact that our flag had been stolen just kind of ticked everybody off, and we decided we wanted the university to know that we’re here.”

Students held a variety of signs, some of which read “When you steal our flag you strip us of our rights” and “Sexist, racist, anti-gay, fucking bigots go away,” while chanting phrases “Two, four, six, eight, looks like state is not so straight” and “Hey, hey, ho, ho, homophobia has got to go.”

Since the group was not allowed to have amplified sound due to a decibel-level-restriction policy, Crystal Brandan, LGBT Student Union associated student representative, addressed the crowd by shouting. She said she wanted people to stop taking their rainbow diversity flag and committing other acts of homophobia.

“Obviously, we don’t have sufficient diversity training throughout this campus,” Brandan shouted in a strained voice over supporters’ cheers. “I want every dean, every student to take some kind of educational class so it doesn’t happen again. Last, but certainly not least, I want a permanent resource center just as good as UCSD’s resource center. Listen up, dean, we’re here, we’re queer and we’re not going anywhere.”

UCSD just held a grand opening ceremony for their LGBT Resource Center on May 6 (see story, page 14).

A variety of other student and community organizations joined the LGBT Student Union during the rally, some of which included the Asian Pacific Student Alliance, M.E.Ch.A de SDSU, the National Organization for Women chapter at SDSU, UCSD Women’s Center, UCSD Queer People of Color, UCSD LGBTQIA, Samahan, UCSD Kaibigang Pilipino and Ebony Pride.

Cartwright formed the Pride Action Committee in 2004, which is comprised of 15 faculty and students, in order to address the need for a permanent GLBT resource center at SDSU.

“Our goal by December of 2006 is to create a proposal to build a center at SDSU. It will be hand-delivered to the university president,” he said.

The proposal will be based on a document that was drafted in 1999 by other students and faculty, but was never formally submitted to SDSU administration, Cartwright said.

“We’re also putting together a hate crimes reporting system because SDSU doesn’t really have a centralized place to report homophobic incidents. That will go along with the proposal,” he said.

Cartwright said UCSD President Stephen Weber has stated he will help them with fund-raising efforts for a GLBT resource center and sign his name to any fund-raising campaign, but SDSU will not financially support such a center. Cartwright also said they have spoken to Provost of Academic Affairs Nancy Marlin, but she wouldn’t answer their questions directly.

SDSU director of media relations Jason Foster said he could not get a direct response from university administration officials regarding their consideration to fund a permanent GLBT resource center if presented with an in-depth needs-analysis proposal.

Foster said the school takes allegations of harassment and/or discrimination seriously.

“We aim to have a welcoming and supportive environment that enables all of our students to thrive,” Foster said. “… Students who believe that they have been subjected to such discrimination or harassment are encouraged to bring the matter to the attention of the university. There are both informal and formal channels available to discuss or file complaints or incidents.”

Foster said the president’s office will sponsor a reception for gay and lesbian faculty and staff on Friday, May 12, where Weber is scheduled to speak.

“This will be an opportunity for the president to explore with faculty and staff additional ways the university can be supportive of its LGBT community on campus,” Foster said.

Cartwright said their biggest concern is that a permanent GLBT resource center should be funded by the school.

“And what the administrators tell us – the president, the vice presidents, the people who would make the decision to build this thing or not – [is that] they support it, but they can’t or won’t fund it,” Cartwright said. “That’s our biggest qualm. We feel it should be funded by the university. We feel it’s a service they need to provide.”

UCSD LBGT Resource Center director Shaun Travers agrees there is a need at SDSU for a center equivalent to the scope of UCSD’s. He said it comes down to changing the hearts and minds of people so they understand the need.

“They already have a vibrant, thriving, active, undergraduate student population,” Travers said. “To be able to specifically designate a space and hire staff that builds community would be a powerful commitment to the LGBT community at SDSU.”