By Hannah Gordon
News Editor
This week, Oct. 27 to Oct.31, was St. Bonaventure’s Ally Week, an educational week Spectrum, St. Bonaventure’s LGBTQA+ Alliance, runs to encourage students to make the campus a safe zone for people that identify as a sexual orientation other than straight.
This week happens to also be National Asexual Week. Spectrum received backlash on Facebook from various students that expressed concern that asexually-oriented people were being deliberately excluded from the club because we chose to celebrate Ally Week this week and not Asexual Week. Spectrum’s acronym LGBTQA+ stands for lesbian, gay, bi*, trans*, queer/questioning and ally/advocate/asexual. Bi* and trans* are “umbrella terms” that encompass a larger community of identities.
As a member of Spectrum, I know we strive to put forth our best foot in a Catholic community. I spent my Sunday afternoon making “Just Love” shirts with the other members and my Monday afternoon selling them and promoting awareness in the Hickey Dining Hall.
We want to be an all-inclusive club. Trying to be all-inclusive on a predominately straight-oriented campus is difficult because many students don’t even know if they can join Spectrum if they are straight. (The answer is yes!)
Ally Week, which was nationally celebrated two weeks ago when we were on midterm break, is our chance to educate the Bona family on how to support each other. We aren’t celebrating people for being decent human beings, as one Facebook post suggested.
While I was at the table in Hickey on Monday, three different students walked up to me, not knowing if they could be an ally too because they were gay. Countless students have asked me what ally week is because of the sticker on my bag that proclaims, “Hi, my name is Hannah, and I’m an ally!” This spread awareness and allowed more of the students to identify as an ally, further making St. Bonaventure a safe zone from harassment and bullying over sexual orientation.
National Asexual Week has changed weeks nearly every year it has been celebrated, making it difficult for our club leaders to pick a week around it. They picked this week for Ally Week because the national celebration was during break and they were unaware of the dates of asexual week this year, according to Emily Jo Manchester, Spectrum president. Manchester said the club plans its events around what its members want.
“We welcome anyone to our club, especially those expressing concerns of asexual awareness” Manchester said. “Education is a huge part of Spectrum’s mission, and we can always use more students that already have a great social awareness.”
Spectrum strives to educate and make the campus a safe space. The intention of Ally Week was to do just that.
Hannah Gordon is the News Editor of The Bona Venture. Her email is gordonhr13@bonaventure.edu
