In memoriam TOBGLAD rainbow

feature 2, Issue 8, Jon-Paul Cook, Campus Life - By Jon-Paul Cook on Thursday, October 28, 2010 - 02:16

“The greatest form of love is acceptance,” read one of many sticky note messages of acceptance and anti-hate that comprised a rainbow in the Campus Inn the week of Oct. 18 to 22. The rainbow was created to make the Whittier College community aware of the teens that have committed suicide in the recent months due to being abused and harassed for being homosexual.

The Transgender, Other Identified, Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian and Allies for Diversity club, or TOBGLAD began this campaign on campus in the form of a colorful representation of Whittier College’s students’ love and goodwill towards all that still suffer from the prejudices of homophobia. Due in part to the well-visited location and its proximity to the Oct. 20 spirit day, the poster was entirely filled with phrases and the rainbow completed before the end of the week.

“We needed something visual and colorful that would catch people’s attention,” senior and President of TOBGLAD Colleen Mundy said. “We were not going to have another candlelight vigil. The fact that eight teens in such a short amount of time were placed under so much pressure that they felt they had no way out needs attention called to it.”

There was a meaning to every color on the poster, life being attributed to red, healing to orange, sunlight to yellow, nature to green, harmony to indigo and spirit to violet. The messages on each note were meant to fall in line with the respective color meaning. The rainbow can now be found in the Cultural Center, prominently visible to those first entering the building.
According to Mundy, TOBGLAD has always had programs to raise public awareness concerning the suicide rate of gay teens. The fact that TOBGLAD and other organizations such as the Trevor Project and It Gets Better are getting so much attention just now is because of the advent of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, their accessibility and fame adding to the cause.

According to the Whittier College website’s club section, TOBGLAD is a confidential group that serves as a support system for students and involves them in crucial political issues affecting the bisexual, gay and lesbian community. The organization’s focus is to end discrimination through educating the Whittier College community.

“The Whittier College community’s actions should speak louder than would telling off these bullies directly,” sophomore Erik Escobar said. “Being aware is the first step towards a solution, which is to develop as a community, individually and as the human race at large.”