Celebrating all those who take part in ALLies Week — Out, Proud, and Queer

Photo Credit: Google Images.

Photo Credit: Google Images.

Courtesy of ALLies

As you walked across campus this week, perhaps you noticed that there is a larger than normal concentration of rainbow flags covering campus. Carlisle Street has even become temporarily known as the Rainbow Corridor.

It is ALLies Week, and for the first time ever, the rainbow flag’s presence on ALLies House and Penn Hall has been augmented by others, proudly displayed on the buildings and in the windows of the new Africana Studies and Economic building, Peace and Justice House, old TKE, Science House, Farm House, and Funk House. Rainbows are being sported on hats, backpacks, as hair accessories, belts, and in general being showcased in so many other ways that we cannot help but feel that campus has come together in an extra special way, a Queer way.

Now, when we s ay Queer, we do not necessarily mean in an LGBTQ way, even though that is a part of it. Here, we mean that the Gettysburg College Campus Community has come together in solidarity and gone against the grain.

Queer means standing in opposition to the normal, consciously being different and making the choice to wear that rainbow in support of your LGBTQ family, friends, and faculty members because it is the right thing to do. Queer means doing it consistently rather than making a big show of it once in a while. Normalcy means saying you support your queer colleagues; Queer means making a statement and letting your voice be heard.

So let our voice as ALLies Club, and the voice of every other Queer individual on this campus, be heard as we say thank you, to President Riggs for allowing us to fly our flag, to Penn Hall for making sure it is up there rain or shine, to Funk House, Farm House, Science House, Peace & Justice House, Old TKE, and the new AFS/Econ building for showing us that they have pride, that they are supportive, and that they are queer.

Stay Out, Stay Proud, Stay Queer, Gettysburg, and remember that every week is ALLies Week.

Author: Brendan Raleigh

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