Stop by San José State's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Resource Center and you'll find the heart of a budding community. With educational exhibits, the Peers in Pride mentor program and gaming-filled "Wii Wednesdays," the center is giving LGBT students a place to call home.
"We're creating opportunities for students to make connections," says Bonnie Sugiyama, assistant director of the center, which opened last fall. A welcoming place for LGBT students, faculty and staff, the center also houses resources for anyone who wants to learn about what it means to be LGBT.
Having a permanent center may have seemed impossible 40 years ago when the Spartan Daily reported on the first gay student group's attempts to be recognized on campus. Over the years gay and lesbian clubs have waxed and waned with changing student interest and involvement -- which has made finding support difficult. For more than three decades Wiggsy Sivertsen, professor in counseling services and gay rights activist, has served admirably as that support for San José State's LGBT faculty, staff and students.
"Wiggsy has been the center, the person, the everything," says Cathy Busalacchi, associate vice president for campus life and executive director of the Student Union. Busalacchi, who oversees the new LGBT Center, remembers coming to San José State in 1989 and going to Sivertsen when she wasn't sure that being out and gay on campus was safe. Now, Sivertsen is not the only resource for the university's more than 2,000 faculty, staff and students who identify as LGBT.
This fall, the inaugural Peers in Pride mentors, whom Sugiyama lovingly calls the "pips," will be reaching out to new LGBT students to tout the center's ever-expanding services and programs. From weekly discussion groups and leadership development workshops to social events and student club meetings, there are plenty of ways to get involved and find support.
"There's not one queer student I've met who hasn't struggled academically or socially as a result of a lack of community and support for their identity," says Elaine Davis, a health science major and one of the center's peer mentors. "When you have support, you're better able to tackle the world."
But the world is bigger than One Washington Square. What happens after students leave campus? Students who rely on campus resources alone may feel they no longer have support after they graduate, explains Angela Krumm, a psychologist at San José State's Counseling Services who works closely with Sugiyama. "By connecting students to resources both on and off campus, we're making sure they can sustain the sense of community and support they find on campus."
"People who are involved in student activities may not go back to San José State once they graduate, but they may participate here," agrees Paul Wysocki, executive director of the Billy Defrank Center, an LGBT nonprofit in downtown San José that offers multigenerational programs. "It makes sense for our centers to work together."
Cassie Blume manages Defrank's youth programs, which provide "everything from leadership opportunities and movies to therapy." She says San José State's 20-somethings frequent Defrank, which is outfitted with a comfy couch, lounge chairs and a TV for movie night.
"We also send our teens to San José State's LGBT events to get educated and then have them report back to their peers," says Blume. Having San José State students working at Defrank reinforces the partnership. Elaine Davis and Megan Thompson, '09 Clinical Psychology, started out at Defrank before getting involved on campus.
"Because the LGBT Center focuses on coalition building, San José State is going to be working with Defrank more," says Thompson. "The benefits of having both centers can't be understated; it has really encouraged people to get involved."
Sugiyama is excited to see the students so energized. "Our students are thirsty for these opportunities. We're trying to prepare them to be great leaders not just in the LGBT community, but in whatever community they choose."
-- Jody Ulate, '05
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