Name changes to show pride

    In an effort to attract more members, The Gay-Straight Alliance is changing its name to the Pride Alliance.
    Noelle Rose, president of Pride Alliance, said one reason behind changing the name was the stigma attached to their former name.
    Rose said the organization heard of the name at a conference at Kennesaw State University, whose GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender) group, and other groups like it, have the same name. GSA felt Pride Alliance was less inclusive, so they changed it.
    “Because of the word ‘gay’ in (Gay-Straight Alliance), the perception of our group was a negative one,” Rose said. “We’re really just trying to erase some of the negative stigma that the name has gotten, as well as be more inclusive.”
    Pride Alliance member Mikella Procopio said the name change is very important. She said the Gay-Straight Alliance established a false dichotomy that could have alienated people who didn’t identify with either of the categories.
    “I think the name Pride Alliance is more in line with the organization’s overall goals,” Procopio said. “One of my favorite things about Pride Alliance is that it provides a safe, friendly social environment in which I can be proud of who I am. It doesn’t matter if I’m gay, straight, bi, transgendered, intersexed or queer. I’m accepted for me.”
    Chelsea Bruner, a senior English major and member of Pride Alliance, agreed. She said the word ‘gay’ in Gay-Straight Alliance scared a lot of allies and glb (gay, lesbian, bisexual) people before they came to meetings.
     "(People) didn’t want to be seen under the word gay for various reasons, so change was needed to make people feel more at ease to come in and see what we’re all about," Bruner said.
     She said that she hopes the name change will create a positive change within the organization.
     “I hope it will make glbtqi (gay, straight, bisexual, transgendered, questioning, intersexed) and allies feel pride in themselves for being involved in positive change,” Bruner said. “We really do want anyone and everyone to come to our meetings, but because of the name or how the name was perceived, a lot of people didn’t come to our meetings or they didn’t come to events.”
     Nyota Sandja a senior liberal studies major, said it is a positive move to change the name, but it could also be misconstrued.
     “Many people don’t really understand the name change because the word ‘pride’ seems to give an arrogant look,” she said. “It’s just to show people how proud we are of being who we are and how proud straight people are of being allies.”
     Procopio said one of the biggest changes she would like to see from the name change is the student body’s perception of Pride Alliance’s identity.
     “It would be completely worth the effort if even one student’s idea of our organization shifts from, ‘Oh, that’s the gay group,’ to ‘Oh, that’s a group of students, some of whom are gay and some of whom are not, that is concerned with issues of equality and celebrating all kinds of diversity’.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Oct 12 2007. Filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry