10 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE November 3,2000

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community groups

'Safe Zone' program helps change campus atmosphere

Athens, Ohio A year ago, the Safe Zone program was a developing idea started by then-Ohio University GLBT student programs coordinator Laura Harrison and practicum student Demisia Razo-Jackson. Now over 500 students, faculty and staff have attended the sessions and "Ohio Safe Zone" stickers are popping up all over campus. Safe Zone is a concept used by many schools, organizations and communities. The program promotes awareness and nonjudgmental treatment of LGBT people by providing education and training. After the training, members are provided with an "Ohio Safe Zone"

bers of the Division of Student Affairs, the evaluations were reviewed and the program was divided into two separate sections.

Safe Zone 101 is an introduction to LGBT issues and focuses on what it means to be and how one can be an ally to LGBT people. Participants will gain knowledge of language and definitions, culture, homophobia and heterosexism, and what it is like to

CHIC

SAFE ZONE

sticker to display on their personal space, be it their office, residence hall room or book bag.

In 1997, the results of a cultural audit of Ohio University found that, while the campus is not openly hostile towards LGBT people, it truly was not affirming or accepting in many ways. Some of the results of those findings were the creation of the Residence Life Ally Group, the development of the GLBT Advisory Committee, and also of the GLBT Student Programs Office and coordinator position within the office.

The Safe Zone program is one additional way for the university community to change the atmosphere on campus towards LGBT students and to show all students that diversity is respected and celebrated in all its forms.

After a year of testing the program and receiving valuable feedback from the mem-

be LGBT at Ohio University. The emphasis is on what basic knowledge is necessary for individuals to understand LGBT people and how they can be open and tolerant toward LGBT people.

Safe Zone 201 takes an individual's education further and emphasizes what it means to be and how to become an advocate to LGBT people and community. The coming out process, what the climate is like at the global level for LGBT people, domestic partnerships or civil unions, activist organizations and how participants can advocate within every facet of their life will be covered.

Participants of Safe Zone 101 may choose, but are not required, to participate in Safe Zone 201. The programs are designed to stand alone or work in tandemthe choice of how much or how little training a person chooses to undergo is their personal decision and is completely voluntary.

To find out about upcoming Safe Zone training sessions, e-mail glbt@ohiou.edu or call 740-593-0239 to find out when the next training session is scheduled, or to register for one.

David's House receives

GLBT youth outreach grant

Toledo-David's House Compassion. Inc. has been awarded a grant for a project entitled "Gay and Lesbian Youth at Risk." Funding for the project will help provide HIV and AIDS education, peer training, and empowerment to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people in northwest Ohio. The project is funded by a generous grant from the Gamma Mu Foundation of San Francisco.

Gamma Mu is a "perpetual philanthropic fund to provide financial assistance to the health, enhancement, and pride of our community." This marks the third year that Gamma Mu had provided funding for outreach programs at David's House.

The genesis for the Gay and Lesbian Youth at Risk Project came as a direct result of planning for the third annual Gay Pride Community Forum held at David's House to mark Gay Pride Month in June of this year. The forum looked at the response of the GLBT community in northwest Ohio to the AIDS crisis in the 1980s and the ongoing commitment of the GLBT community to fighting HIV and AIDS in the new millennium.

A consensus quickly developed that the GLBT community had responded quickly to the AIDS crisis in the 80s; but community involvement appears less evident today. Aithough it is behavior, and not identity, that leads to HIV infection, there is no doubt that HIV still poses a serious health risk to this and other populations. In fact, 66% of AIDS cases in Lucas County resulted from male-male sex, and another 6% identified their risk factors as male-male sex and intravenous drug use.

When asked, many young people say that they are not getting the necessary informa-

tion they need about sexuality. A recent Kaiser Family Foundation study found that only 61% of students who have had sex felt "very prepared to understand the basics of pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. Further, between one-fourth and onehalf of students in every grade said they want more information about sexual topics.

Schools are severely lacking in addressing issues (and support) specific to the GLBT community. Homophobia, and consequently. internalized oppression can lead to lower self esteem and high risk behavior. A study by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services discovered that lesbian and gay youth are four times more at risk for suicide that straight students. Another study, by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, found that students who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered, are five times more likely to miss school because of feeling unsafe.

David's House in an HIV-AIDS service organization serving a 20-county area in northwest Ohio.

Community Groups

The "Community Groups" columns on this page are published by the Gay People's Chronicle free of charge, as a public service. They are written by members or officers of each non-profit organization, reflecting the views of their group.

If your organization would like to submit a column for this page, contact the Chronicle at 216-631-8646, toll-free 800-426-5947, or e-mail editor @chronohio.com.