On Wednesday, June 26, Rio Salado College hosted a special event in honor of Pride Month. The event was called Standing Together: Creating an Inclusive Environment for LGBTQ+ Community, which featured a presentation and Q&A with guest speaker Ally Snow. An advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, Snow has more than 15 years of experience across education, social services, and holistic wellness. Snow played a crucial role in both Equality Maricopa and the Women's Networking Group at Rio Salado College (where she proudly championed Diversity, Education, Inclusion, and Belonging initiatives).
Rio Salado College President Kate Smith introduced Snow, who greeted the audience by pointing out that the event was happening on the same date as the anniversary for Marriage Equality Day. Marriage Equality Day marks the passing of the legalization of same-sex marriage, which happened on June 26, 2015, with the Supreme Court's decision in the Obergefell v. Hodges case.
“Can I get a round of applause for queer joy,” Snow said, explaining how the word was once a slur but has since been reclaimed as a term of pride and fellowship for the LGBTQ+ community.
Snow said she created the title for her speech because "the whole point in being a human is standing together and the whole point in working in higher education is for us to all come together as one and do our very best to support each other and our students." Quoting the sociologist Dr. Martha Beck, Snow said that Beck posited there are three universal questions that we all ask ourselves: "Am I safe? Am I loved? What can I learn?" She talked about how these three questions significantly influence our choices as to where we choose to attend and where we want to grow our careers.
She discussed the impact of cultural conditioning and how our upbringing and environment can shape us and affect our self-perceptions. Snow shared about her own childhood and how her family faith's culturally conditioned her to develop internalized homophobia that took her years to overcome. This led to a conversation about mental health among queer and how studies have found that LGBTQ+ are three times more likely to be diagnosed with anxiety and depression, and four times more likely to attempt suicide.
Snow talked about the importance of living with authenticity, and how crucial it is that we pay attention to the people around us and our surroundings and make an intention to make an impact on them. The responsibility for creating a safer institution is on all of us, and something that we can get closer to achieving by setting those intentions to pay attention and make a difference. She shared with the audience that many people in her community feel fearful over the unrest in society and the threats of violence made over Pride events, highlighting why making institutions feel safer and more inclusive is so important.
Watch Standing Together on YouTube
Article by Austin Brietta