Friday, May 10, 2013

Activism at Historically Black Colleges and Universities

This posting is from Marco, who's not been able to post to the blog:

Upon researching LGBT activism and policy with respect to college campuses, I came across the Human Rights Campaign's Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCU) Program. Their home website is here (http://www.hrc.org/issues/pages/historically-black-colleges-universities-hbcus). The program, expectedly, states that it "educates and organizes students, faculty and administrators at HBCU campuses on gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues specific to each institution's needs. The program is centered around the greater Washington, D.C. area, and was founded in 2000 as a response to a surge of on-campus violence at HBCUs against LGBT students.

One interesting facet within the mission statement of the HRC's HBCU Program that stood out to me has to do with what separates it from other LGBT programs around the country. It states, "For many in the African American LGBT community, it is challenging to be who you are because you have additional cultural factors to consider - including having to deal with strong family foundations that emphasize heterosexuality and strong conservative religious ties within the Black Church." The religious aspect of this statement got me thinking about the great role that religion plays within LGBT civil rights, and reminded me loosely of
The Anita Bryant Story with respect to the power of religion.

The HRC's HBCU Program's crowning event is its annual Leadership & Career Summit every fall. The Summit is recapped in this video here (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdZ6Pfrhaoo) and also detailed on the HRC's blog here (http://www.hrc.org/blog/entry/wrapping-up-hrcs-hbcu-leadership-career-summit-2012). 

No comments:

Post a Comment