Surely this scenario is absurd. Why would anyone object to something as innocuous and natural as a respectable adult couple holding hands in the street? What could possibly be reproachable or offensive about such a small display of human affection? This is America, after all. It is your home.

Of course one small change needs to be made to this story. You are not with your spouse but your partner, who happens to be the same sex as you. And while there is nothing inherently menacing about the groups mentioned above, (I am, at times, a suspicious mother myself,) for gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered individuals, the hostility of many people’s reactions to them can makes a potential threat out of anyone.

Many of you who read these words are no doubt heterosexual, and you will never have had to wonder what it might be like to be despised, threatened or murdered for the simple fact of your choice of a partner. You will never have had to hide your affection in public, or fight to visit a loved one in the hospital after visiting hours or been refused health benefits for your partner of ten or fifteen years, or been expected to modify your gestures or comportment in public. But for a significant and growing number of good people in our community, who happen to be gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered, these small privileges are not a given.

This fact was brought home to me on a recent afternoon in conversation with Kishia Brock. Among other hats she wears, Kishia is the Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgender (GLBT) representative on Rio Salado’s Diversity Committee and active in the Gay/Lesbian Human Rights Association (GLHRA).

Dr. Bob Fernie enjoys a moment with board member Mrs.Linda Rosenthal at a recent meeting of the GLHRA.

She is also one of the organizers of the Safe Space Training funded by the Maricopa Renewal Committee, which was recently piloted at the first Safe Space Workshop held on April 4, 2003. Kishia clarified for me many of the issues facing the GLBT community and shed light on the important work this organization is doing with the blessings of both the governing board and the Chancellor of the Maricopa Community College District, Dr. Fred Gaskin. She also gave me a primer in terminology that helps to define the GLBT experience.

Among the most startling and eye-opening concepts Kishia introduced me to is that of heterosexual privilege. As illustrated in the first paragraph of this article, heterosexual privilege refers to those basic rights that heterosexual individuals can naturally expect but which are withheld from homosexuals in this society. Among those already mentioned, such privileges include being reasonably sure your neighbors will be pleasant towards you, being able to adopt a child with your partner, renting a motel room with your partner without being arrested, being able to get married, and many more. Even the right not to have to explain yourself is missing for homosexuals. “I use this example in the Safe Space Training,” Kishia said. “Gay and lesbian people don’t just come out once. We do it numerous times a day. Sometimes numerous times an hour depending on who we’re interacting with. It’s a privilege to have society assume you are married to someone of the opposite sex and you don’t have to expose things about yourself.”

It is this kind of consciousness raising about what it means to be GLBT that the Safe Space Training accomplishes in a format that is informative, instructive and, from what recent participants say, downright fun. Modeled on several Safe Space or Safe Zone trainings on college and university campuses across the nation, Maricopa’s training falls into two parts. The first is a 2 ½ to 3-hour general educational workshop that explores GLBT terms, ideas and symbols as well as concepts such as heterosexual privilege and homophobia. Exercises are designed to educate participants about the history of the GLBT community and to encourage them to relate to the experiences of GLBT individuals.

Part two carries the training a step further and prepares so called allies on how to provide a safe space for students to deal with GLBT issues. Allies are those employees on campuses who will display a recognizable GLBT symbol, the pink triangle, in a visible place. This will direct GLBT students and employees to staff they can go to without fear of either discrimination or misguided attempts to steer the student back to the straight world. Students will be able to discuss GLBT related topics and get referrals or assistance with issues such as fear of coming out, uncertainty about where to get information or not knowing where to report discrimination. As Kishia explained, “Right now, students can’t be 100% sure that employees they report discrimination to will be willing to support them and to be their advocate in ending discrimination against members of the GLBT community. We want to make sure that there are clearly designated safe spaces where allies will support not only students but also MCCCD employees.” And because the ally training delves deeper into what it means to live as a GLBT in our society, it can only be taken after the general education training. As Kishia elaborated, “In the training participants actively visit with issues faced by GLBT students and employees within the district on a daily basis. These issues are ones that heterosexual students and staff members within the district often are not aware of or do not face.”

GLHRA member Kishia Brock reviews plans for the next Safe Space Training with outgoing president Jayne Goldstein.

The Safe Space Training is just the latest project in a series of progressive reforms the GLHRA group has been working on since its inception in 1990. Along with the inclusion of “sexual orientation” in Maricopa’s non-discrimination policy, the group has worked to support the extension of benefits to domestic partners and monitored the climate for GLBT’s on the state scene with an eye on the ramifications for Maricopa. Outgoing GLHRA president Jayne Goldstein illustrated the importance of this work with an example. “In Arizona laws there are over 900 places that discriminate against Gays and Lesbians because it only says “spouse” or “child”. One of those laws directly affects people in our district. Your spouse or child would get free tuition whereas my spouse would not.” Moreover, Jayne went on to point out that many legal issues have come up that could have been avoided if people had known of the resources available to them on the GLHRA website. Raising awareness is an integral part of their work.

While the climate in Maricopa is increasingly supportive of differences, including those that define GLBT’s, it hasn’t always been so. It took political activism on the city scene to stimulate change in the district. For more background Kishia referred me to Dr. Bob Fernie, retired faculty member at Phoenix College, and one of the founding members of GLHRA. “There were several of us who worked for the district and who were actively participating in the process of supporting a change in the nondiscrimination policy of the City of Phoenix,” Bob explained. “Several thousand Gay and Lesbian people were lobbying the city council to consider adding “sexual orientation” to its non discrimination policy for city employees and for businesses within the city. We feared that being publicly associated with this movement could put our jobs in jeopardy. This led us to arrange a meeting with the chancellor, and later with the presidents of all the colleges, to request their support of adding “sexual orientation” to the Maricopa nondiscrimination policy.”

I wonder from my safe perspective as a white, heterosexual employee how many of us would be brave enough to take that step were it necessary to protect our basic rights? How easy would it be to “come out” at the highest levels, to risk everything? Could I expose myself to prejudice, discrimination and even physical danger? For those of us in the mainstream group, whether racially or sexually, it may be hard to imagine the very real pain that discrimination and prejudice cause. When I asked both Jayne and Kishia about discrimination in the district, both of them referred to episodes of hate mail through the district’s Memo system. “Some of the emails were very harmful and hurtful to members of our community,” says Kishia. “I feel very strongly that members of the MCCD community would have responded to such hateful email had those emails been directed towards any other constituency group. As members of the MCCD community we need to remember that GLHRA represents people of various identities, including race, ethnicity/nationality, and class. Fortunately, the Chancellor did write a response and we were very happy that he was supportive of GLHRA and made clear that such displays of hatred and intolerance are unacceptable in the district.

Emails such as the one Kishia referred to are striking reminders of the conviction and courage necessary to get involved. The bravery of the founders is something GLHRA members never take for granted. In speaking of pioneers such as Dr. Fernie, Doug Dawson and Dr. Joseph Pearson, who served as president of GLHRA for several terms and who is still a staunch and articulate spokesperson for the group, Kishia put it succinctly. “They’ve done amazing things. They’ve made it easier for those of us coming into the organization now.”

What would it take for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders to fully enjoy the rights the mainstream enjoys? It’s simple. And as Kishia explained, it occurred to me that it’s also quite measurable. “We would hope that we could at least get to a place in an institution of higher education where we’re on the continuum. And I use the Riddle Scale,” she explained. “which was created by Dr. Dorothy Riddle in Tucson. It presents a continuum of attitudes towards homosexuality…with, on the negative side repulsion, pity, tolerance and acceptance. And when you begin the positive, you have support, admiration, appreciation and nurturance. And I think the hope would be that every member of our community, for the sake of our students if no one else, could get to the point of acceptance, which still falls in the negative attitudes. But at least it’s not hateful. Hopefully it would make things easier for our student population.” Kishia shot me a glance at once rueful and wistful before she continued. “But the goal obviously is to get to the positive side of that continuum.”

For more information on the Safe Space Training and the Gay/Lesbian Human Rights Organization, go to: www.maricopa.edu/glhra/main.html

Jeanne Belisle Lombardo is Transition Program Coordinator at Rio Salado College, which assists Adult Basic Education students in their transition to college classes throughout the MCCD. She is also a freelance writer and enjoys reporting on Diversity related issues.