US Labor Secretary and former Boston Mayor Marty Walsh signed a petition calling for Boston College to establish an LGBTQ resource center on the campus of Boston College.
“Having political leaders and prominent alumni like Secretary Walsh speak out is incredibly important because it shows BC there is broad community support for LGBTQ+ students on campus and that Father Leahy and the Board of Trustees cannot simply ignore student voices and hope these issues go away,” BC grad student James Mazereas told the BC student paper, The Heights.
Mazereas was instrumental in getting Walsh, a BC alum, to sign the petition. Walsh received a bachelor’s degree in political science from BC.
Reports The Heights:
During his time as mayor, many praised Walsh for his LGBTQ+ policies, including the allocation of $2 million for Boston’s first LGBTQ+-supported senior housing development and support for legislation that would protect transgender people in Massachusetts from discrimination in public places.
Mazareas said he began talking to Walsh about LGBTQ+ issues on BC’s campus in 2018 when Walsh met with graduate student unions from BC and Harvard.
“Even though we already met about the union, later in the evening he was kind enough to take time to speak with me further about issues related to queer and trans students at BC,” he wrote. “He took time to listen and ask questions and was just very supportive.”
Alexandra Katz, a UGBC Student Assembly representative and Lynch ’23, said the University’s refusal to acknowledge the petition contributes to the underlying issue of alienation for LGBTQ+ students at BC.
“It very much adds to the permeating cultural norms that essentially prioritize the needs of the students who may not be in the LGBTQIA+ community,” Katz said.
Katz said she thinks Walsh’s signature will pressure the administration to acknowledge and address the petition.
“I think this is incredibly significant, just the fact that he signed this petition in support of this community on campus,” Katz said. “… He has publicly asserted his desire to improve conditions for LGBTQIA+ students here, and this is an immense step in the right direction, because in my opinion, it places more pressure on administrators to openly respond to these cries for more tangible resources on campus.”
Read the complete story in The Heights here.
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