You’re 6 years old, walking down the street with your dad when two men walk by holding hands. Your father mumbles something as they pass and you ask daddy why he is suddenly upset.
This is an example of the kind of everyday occurrences people deal with, explained Sarah Holmes resource coordinator of GLBTQA Resource Center.
Holmes is a very busy woman. Her office hosts numerous programs that help the community understand gay and lesbian issues.
Safe Zone has been one of the more successful.
Holmes started The Safe Zone Project in the fall of 1996. Safe Zone offers safe and supportive contacts for members of the Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Questioning Allies (GLBTQA) community.
It’s a program that provides a safe place for GLBTQA people and answers questions for anyone confused or uncertain of gay and lesbian issues.
An old saying states says “10 percent of a population will be gay or lesbian,” said Holmes. She couldn’t furnish a more accurate number because many people are still revealing their sexual identities. That means there are a lot of people at USM that could use Safe Zone, said Holmes.
The mission of the Safe Zone Project is to visibly identify and support those members of the University community who are safe and supportive contacts for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and questioning students, staff and faculty.
Participants put a Safe Zone logo on the outside of their office doors.
Anyone may participate in the Safe Zone Project. Volunteers participate in a 2-hour orientation program that introduces them to life stories and experiences of GBLTQA individuals and communities.
The program focuses on the issues that GLBTQA people face and how both GLBTQA people and heterosexuals can be successful, safe, and supportive allies, Holmes explained.
To volunteer, people must complete a one and a half to two hour informational and resource training session. The session teaches volunteers how to handle and better understand GLBTQA issues.
Since Safe Zone started, 300 to 400 people have gone through training, including students, faculty and staff, all USM counseling offices and the USM Police Department. The entire economics department has also completed the training, Holmes said.
Safe Zone “educates people with the issues GLBTQA members face, joins them with identified people, and helps end oppression and creates a safe place,” said Holmes.
There are a number of trainers on campus who have undergone all training, including Sarah Holmes and Mary Kay Kasper of the Office of Community Standards. It is important that Kasper has undergone training because her office deals with hate and bias orientated cases on a daily bases, and it is key that Kasper have the correct training to deal with these issues, and it lets victims know she is a safe and supportive contact.
The number of volunteers and trainers varies time to time due to graduation and other matters of that nature. The Safe Zone Project has created a sense of safety and visibility, providing knowledge, and has let GLBTQA members know they are supported.
“It’s a good option because it has peoples’ questions answered who may have grown up in a small town and never had these issues explained to them, and allows them to ask these questions,” said Holmes.
Staff writer Aimee Risteen can be contacted at [email protected]