Our Story

In late January, after a conversation dealing with a variety of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) issues on campus, Skye decided to create a video called "If I Could Speak Freely", highlighting some of the issues faced by the queer community on the TCU campus. Frustrated with the University's lack of response when it came to LGBT issues, Skye found that there was a lot of potential on campus and a lot of CLOSETED support. So Skye decided to initiate a stepping stone to advocate for students, peers, faculty, and staff by making this video in hopes of one day gaining an open and inclusive environment on the TCU campus and campus' nationwide.

The video quickly created a wave across campus, as it spread to administration, faculty, staff, and students. When Su sent the video to the Chancellor, he responded, asking for the name of the student in the video and expressed a desire to "get to know" that student. The video was then forwarded to the Vice-Chancellor, who forwarded it to all the unit heads. A meeting between Skye and the Chancellor was set for February 20, 2009.

While waiting for February 20th, Skye and Su set to work gathering information to support their case. At the meeting, Skye presented the Chancellor with a letter from faculty, a letter from the Gay-Straight Alliance with resource requests, a page full of comments received from the video, and a benchmarking document comparing TCU's resources with the universities in it's Peer Comparison (as found in the 2008 TCU Fact Book). With this information, Su and Skye hoped to illustrate the need for institutionalized support.

At the meeting, the Chancellor showed personal support, and went on to explain how TCU's theology supports the LGBT community. He also stated that, "if anyone feels that TCU doesn't support them, have them come talk to me."
This statement, along with the momentum of the LGBT community on campus, has created a spark to ignite change. With an online petition and a call to action, Skye and Su, with the help of Cher, hope to gather enough support from the student body and the local groups to create a Resource Center for LGBT Life.