Our doors are opened: UNCG PRIDE! makes an official statement promoting tolerance and open-mindedness

The previous edition of The Carolinian published a guest column by Jason Crawford. Since its publication, many people have come to the Executive Board of PRIDE! to see if we are going to take any action. We have been discussing what would be the most efficient way to get our point across. Our message is not to deliberately offend anybody for their beliefs, values, or lifestyle; it is intended for the people who were angered and disheartened by the distasteful guest column written by Jason Crawford.

We would like to clarify some assumptions that could have been made from reading the article, "The Matt Hill Comer Problem." Matt Hill Comer has not been an active member of UNCG PRIDE! since September. Secondly, it can only be assumed that Mr. Crawford was using Matt as a scapegoat for what he really meant to say. Although he did mention Matt by name, he put emphasis on the whole entire GLBTQA community. Nobody will ever know whether or not this was his true intention, but we all can speculate.

PRIDE! is an acronym for Proudly Representing, Individuality, Diversity, and Equality. Some people know us as the "gay" group on campus. This is not unlike many other stereotypes that go along with being a minority. PRIDE! is not exclusively for gay, lesbian, bisexuals, and transgender individuals. We are inviting and welcoming to everyone. Believe it or not, there are straight people (straight allies) who are active members of this organization.

PRIDE! has spent many hours debating on what the best route would be in declaring our official statement. The more we thought about it, the more we realized that this article will only act as a catalyst for our cause.

Before the homosexual movement ever came about, there have been plenty of people that bestow the same opinion as Mr. Crawford. PRIDE!'s mission is not only to have a safe environment for people of the GLBTQA community, but also to educate the overall university community on GLBTQA issues. Jason's column was not anything new to anyone who is gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender. His column illustrated to this campus what the GLBTQA community is fighting for: equality. If any readers, gay or straight, were enraged by his article, then they believe in it too.

Times are changing. Females now have a voice, people of color have more equality and opportunity than in the past 50 years, and slowly but surely the GLBTQA community are gaining their human rights.

After much thought, we have decided to not start a bickering war with Jason Crawford and others with these fundamental beliefs. We are taking this opportunity to reach out to the community to anyone who was offended or angered at the article in question. Unlike some people's minds, our doors are open to everyone.

The Executive Board of UNCG PRIDE! are: Amanda Miller, Jessica Arvidson, April Breen, Joshua Henson, Darrius Wilson, and Patrick Tourville.

For more information, visit PRIDE!'s official website: pride.uncg.edu