LGBTQ+ Resources
LGBTQ+ Resources
You don't have to be OUT to come IN
COSAM OIED’s goal is to inspire everyone to take courageous steps towards all aspects of equity and inclusive excellence. We strive to make those on Auburn University's campus feel comfortable and safe, so they can prosper and excel. Our mission to support equity and diversity is inspired by what we value, what we learn, and what we hope to create: a more inclusive environment for everyone to thrive within COSAM.
In accordance with our mission and goals we endorse a person-centered viewpoint of identity, rejecting a perspective of othering. We support the idea of “inviting others in,” rather than “coming out.” As stated by Karamo Brown, one of the stars of Netflix’s Queer Eye: “For me, coming out gives the power to the other person to accept or deny you. When you’re inviting them in, you have the power.” Like Karamo Brown, we believe the specific words people choose to use are powerful, and by calling attention to progressive issues, we aim to be supportive allies. Here is an article written on just this subject, by Rodney S. Williams, Jr.
LGBTQ+ people in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics continue to struggle to openly be themselves (Coming Out in STEM: Factors Affecting Retention). We hope that by providing students, faculty, and staff with resources to “just be,” this does not have to be anyone’s story within COSAM. In order to serve as advocates for inclusive excellence and equity our staff have undergone SafeZone training, a program designed to help us work towards our goal of creating a safe space for all students, faculty, and staff here on campus.
Campus resources:
Spectrum: Auburn University's Gay-Straight Alliance
Auburn University's Gay-Straight Alliance is here to promote mutually supportive relationships among all students in the interest of advancing campus and community diversity.
Spectrum serves as a safe place for students who are part of gender, sexual, and romantic minorities (GSRMs), those who are still discovering themselves, and their allies to gather and discuss topics that relate to them, as well as establish an environment free from discrimination based on sexual orientation as well as gender identity and expression.
Critical Studies Working Group
According to their website, "the Critical Studies Working Group is a group of scholars at Auburn University committed to the critical analysis of education. Our critical analysis is centered on understanding cultural, institutional, and structural dynamics that create and perpetuate injustice, inequity, and oppression in education and schooling.
"We enact our opposition through scholar-activism to transform systems and structures in education toward humanization, justice, and equity. We are committed to educational praxis that opens, develops, and sustains critical consciousness around inequity, injustice, and oppression and supports those becoming critically conscious. While our purposes are critical, we endeavor to engage in critique that is humanizing, caring, and sees individual people beyond the structures they inhabit. As such, we do not treat people as disposable or interchangeable – we strive to practice radical love in our work and to recognize every individual’s innate human potential."
Auburn LGBTQ+ Resources and Initiatives
Other internet resources:
EduMed: Creating LGBTQIA+ Friendly Communities in Healthcare and Education
Zippia's LGBTQ Workplace Resource Guide
Bill Nye On Sexuality And Gender Spectrum
10 LGBTQ Leaders Reinventing Science and Technology
oSTEM: Out in STEM Professional Association
Financial & Social Resources for LGBTQ Youth Experiencing Homelessness
The Top Financial Factors Impacting the LGBTQ Community