SMC Votes held a “Discussion and Donuts” event Wednesday evening in Stapleton Lounge, where attendees met in small groups and talked about LGBTQ+ rights and politics.
SMC Votes holds monthly nonpartisan discussion spaces to allow students to discuss current political topics, according to Sarah Neitz, assistant director for justice and solidarity with the Center for Faith, Action and Ministry (CFAM).
Neitz said she hopes students attending the event walk away with the understanding that “it’s possible to have conversations about some of the difficult things that are happening in our political life and to have those conversations in the spirit of goodwill, learning, curiosity and mutual respect.”
Since the College instituted and subsequently reversed a policy allowing the admission of transgender students earlier this year, CFAM noticed students wanted a space to discuss LGBTQ+ issues. Neitz said the student leaders of SMC Votes wanted to provide a place for students to discuss these issues in tandem with Catholic social teaching.
“Catholic social teaching is very insistent that every human being is made in the image and likeness of God, and it is explicit that that includes lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, queer and all other gender and sexuality identities,” Neitz said.
“I think as a women’s college, there are a lot of places at Saint Mary’s where students are able to talk about gender really freely, and that’s a thing that I’ve appreciated since I started here in August,” Neitz said, commending the SMC Votes student leaders in particular for their work facilitating these discussions.
During the meeting, the student leaders shared a timeline of LGBTQ+ rights in America, discussing relevant legislative bills — such as Indiana HB 1291 and the Florida HB 1557 — and shared resources for further student discussion and involvement, including CFAM, the division for inclusion and equity and the SAGE club.
Freshman theater and psychology major Morgan Allred said her biggest takeaway from the discussion was “getting to learn kind of an outsider’s perspective on some of the issues”.
She said it was helpful to have an opportunity to reflect on her own beliefs and ideologies in the space of the small group.
“I think it’s important to talk about these topics because it’s an issue that we’re going to face, not just in college, but in the rest of our lives worldwide and it’s an issue that is affecting people around the world. It’s something we have to address, we can’t just brush it under the rug,” Allred said.
Allred said she believes the College needs to have more open discussions with authority figures about their intentions and beliefs as a school with regard to diversity, equity and inclusion, but commended the work the College has done.
“There is a lot of room for grace,” she said. “A lot of people are very understanding and there can be a lot of benefit to us working together and hearing each other out.”
