You may have never noticed this sign as you approach the Strip coming from downtown Tuscaloosa. I notice it everyday. The sign can be seen on more than 1600 miles of road in the state of Alabama. An organization simply has to fill out the paperwork and the state will provide bags to the organization to keep the area of road they "adopt" regularly tidy, saving Alabama taxpayers millions of dollars each year in debris maintenance (http://www.alpals.org/adoptamile.asp). So who adopted the Strip? Who would volunteer to clean up this area cluttered by The University of Alabama students and nightly bar crawlers? 

Spectrum. 

Spectrum is the LGBT/Ally student group at UA. So here we are in an area where I can easily recall times of being harassed for my sexuality and several others of you can as well I'm sure, but all the while the gayest student group on campus had their flag in that ground. I asked Lauren J, current president of Spectrum, about their current involvement with the cleanup of the Strip as per their adoption, but she regrets they don't do it as often as they would like anymore. Instead, they are focusing on the other initiatives of their service component, such as their annual drag variety show coming up in April to benefit WAAO and Spectrum Cares, an ongoing program for tornado relief.

It's interesting though just to observe that flag in the ground – a flag of metal and generic graphics, not some silky, rainbow thing. No other group had claimed that area. Not the UA SGA, any of the fraternities or sororities, or any of the other people that populate that area in the overwhelming majority. Sure, they have other things they do, but so does Spectrum. Spectrum saw an opportunity to do something good for our community and leaped on it, regardless of the heteronormative vibe that spawns from every crevice of that area. I think the lesson you can take from this is that Change takes many forms. Change happens when a group of friends at the Stonewall Inn get fed-up with constant haranguing by the local police and lead a revolution. Change happens in the legislative halls voting for marriage equality in Washington and Maryland. Change happens in the big campaigns such as "It Gets Better" or The Trevor Project. But it also happens in small ways. It happens when a group of LGBT students come together to make positive contributions in their community – contributions that are easily overlooked and even forgotten. Change doesn't always beat on your door, demanding entry. Sometimes Change has been sitting with you having coffee for much longer than you knew and suddenly you realize that Change has come.

My last post was about how sometimes we need space to call our own, but there are also times when we need to be part of the community space, intermingled in everything that links us all together as people just living our lives. There's got to be a balance. Put your flag in the ground somewhere a little more unexpected. Maybe Change really happens when we start forgetting all the things that make us different and start finding all the ways we are so similar.

So next time you are passing Audubon Place on University Boulevard, look at this sign and let it be a reminder that we are part of this community as a whole and we have a place in it. 


Over and Out,
CampusQueer