The University LGBTQ Center held its second singing of the “Good Ol’ Song” as a part of the “Love is Love” campaign — an effort aimed at raising awareness and creating a more welcoming community environment for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning students.
Kate Travis, a fourth-year College student and programs intern at the LGBTQ Center, said the campaign is not only meant to speak out against LGBTQ discrimination but also to celebrate the community as a whole.
“Love is Love is a really powerful message,” Travis said. “I’m all about celebrating all love on Valentine’s Day — it’s one of the most easy to get along with ideas.”
The campaign’s singing of the “Good Ol’ Song” comes as a response to some students’ shouts of “not gay!” at the end of the second verse of the song. Travis said she felt the University community overall does not seem to share the discriminatory attitudes of those individuals.
“I think that something like the “not gay” is not something that [the[ average U.Va. students are super invested in,” Travis said. “It’s obviously a sign of exclusivity — it’s a sign of ‘you’re not welcome here,’ when people yell something like that. But I also think that’s not something that’s very popular, and it hasn’t been popular for some time, but every once in a while there’s a little group of people who bring it back.”
Third-year College student Caroline Herre said support, encouragement and community involvement are essential to supporting the LGBTQ community.
“I think events like these can bring together a lot of people from different backgrounds,” Herre said. “Like those who are involved in the LGBTQ resource center, those who are in QSU or any of the organizations and also just people who want to be there in support.”
Herre said part of the reason she attended the event was that it is important to her to become closer with the LGBTQ community.
“I also want to learn more because this community is super vibrant and super diverse,” Herre said. “Seeing that here has been a good reminder about how many people care about this community and are involved in the community, and it’s here for anyone.”
While Travis said the “Love is Love” campaign evokes a very powerful message, she also felt there to be a number of other issues facing the LGBTQ community which need to be addressed.
“We need to talk about gender identity acceptance at U.Va., we need to talk about not just marriage equality, but…about gender issues and other forms of discrimination faced by LGBTQ identified individuals at U.Va.,” Travis said. “And sometimes those other issues don’t get talked about during events like this.”
Travis said she hopes that the campaign will draw students to the center in order to seek more resources and information about the LGBTQ community.
“This is one of our most successful campaigns and I think that’s wonderful, but I hope it inspires people to check out the LGBTQ Center’s other events,” Travis said. “I hope it inspires people to look deeper into issues that are faced by this community in particular.”
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