TSA is hosting a car wash this Saturday from 10am - 3pm at the CVS on the corner of US Hwy 41 and Washington Avenue, to benefit the AIDS Holiday Project. Those who volunteer (while they last) will have their choice of a Holiday World ticket or a Rocky Horror Picture Show ticket. Come on out for a good cause!
Hey everyone!
Welcome to Spectrum. I am really excited about what this year has in store for us all. This year’s meetings will be held every other Tuesday night instead of every Tuesday. We hope that this allows us to plan better meetings with fun activities and things to talk about. It will also give us a chance to have group activities off campus. We would like to do all sorts of things like that this year but we need member participation in order for these events to be successful. I’m hoping to create a family atmosphere at Spectrum this year. We are always open to ideas about fun activities, events for on campus, meeting discussion topics, and anything else you can think of.
Please comment on this post with things you would like to see happen this year 
As many of you may or may not know, there is a new proposal being put through the Indiana State Senate right now called House Joint Resolution 6. If this passes, there will be an amendment added to the Indiana state constitution defining marriage between a man and a woman ONLY. It will also take away any similar LGBT rights such as civil unions, partnership tax incentives and other recognition rights. The resolution passes the House with a scary majority of the votes. Please help take a stand against this. You can do this in a number of ways. We (Spectrum) have made a petition and it is circulating to get signatures from USI’s campus and UE’s campus. We also have letters that you can send to your district senator. Look up your distict’s Senator at this link (http://www.in.gov/sliverheader/Welcome.do?url=http://kyeo-in.egis.39dn.com/). If you click on the Senator’s website you will find their address, email, and possibly a phone number. Contact them using all three if you must. You can also email the Senate Judiciary Committee Members at this link: http://equalityfederation.salsalabs.com/o/35011/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=397.
This is a very important issue, not just for Spectrum members, but for Indiana. Marriage is an individual right and should not be limited to a man and a woman. Post comments about other ways to help make a difference for this issue and/or thoughts. Comments are always welcome.
The boyfriend of one of our Spectrum members, Crystal, has a good friend who is having a birthday this weekend. Thing is, she used to donate blood to the Red Cross all the time, until she was diagnosed with mastocytosis three years ago (the same thing Christopher Reeve had), which prevents her from being able to donate blood ever again. She’s asking her friends for a few things for her birthday, and is also asking them to spread the word about her birthday wishes. Since Crystal can’t donate blood (she’s apparently spent too much time abroad) and blood donations have taken a really hard hit in the US this winter thanks to the bad weather, she asked us to help Ryan help his friend by spreading the word to you guys. You don’t have to be in the United States to help; anything donated anywhere in the world would be awesome.
Here’s what she’s asking for:
1) Donate Blood
http://www.redcrossblood.org/donating-blood
2) Register to be a Bone Marrow Donor / Donate Cord Blood (or plan to)
http://www.marrow.org/JOIN
3) Donate time/money to either the Dana and Christopher Reeve Foundation or Life Rolls On.
http://www.christopherreeve.org/
http://www.liferollson.org/
4) Donate to The Mastocytosis Foundation
http://tmsforacure.org/
Here’s the full story. Please give it a read. Even if you can’t do anything yourself, the least you can do is tell someone else. Hopefully if enough people see this, we can make a huge difference in someone’s life.
After the November 1998 murder of Rita Hester, a transgender woman living in the Boston area, Gwendolyn Ann Smith and other organizers formed the “Remembering Our Dead” project and accompanying vigil in San Francisco in 1999.
The annual November 20 observance has grown into the national Transgender Day of Remembrance. It is an opportunity for communities to come together and mark the passing of transgender or those perceived to be transgender individuals who have been murdered because of hate.
Although the day primarily memorializes those lost to hate crimes, it also serves as a forum for transgender communities and allies to raise awareness around the threat of violence faced by gender variant people and the persistence of prejudice felt by the transgender community. Activities also make anti-transgender violence and bigotry visible to such key community groups as police and medical services, the media and elected officials. Communities often include a variety of events including town hall style “teach-ins,” photography and poetry exhibits, along with candlelit vigils.
As expressed on Gwendolyn Ann Smith’s site, the guiding principle for the national Transgender Day of Remembrance is summed up in George Santayana’s immortal words, “Those who cannot remember the past doomed to repeat it.”
Seth Walsh, 13 years old. California. Hanging.
Asher Brown, 13 years old. Texas. Self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Billy Lucas, 15 years old. Indiana. Hanging.
Tyler Clementi, 18 years old. New Jersey. Jumping off a bridge.
Raymond Chase, 19 years old. Rhode Island. Hanging.
What do all these young people have in common?
They were harassed for being gay. Moreover, these suicides have happened in the past three weeks.
New York (CNN) — On the evening of September 19, Rutgers University student Dharun Ravi is believed to have sent a message by Twitter about his roommate, Tyler Clementi.
“Roommate asked for the room till midnight. I went into molly’s room and turned on my webcam. I saw him making out with a dude. Yay.”
Ravi, 18, of Plainsboro, New Jersey, surreptitiously placed the camera in their dorm room and broadcast video of Clementi’s sexual encounter on the internet, the Middlesex County prosecutor’s office said. Ravi tried to use the webcam again two days later, on September 21.
“Anyone with iChat, I dare you to video chat me between the hours of 9:30 and 12. Yes it’s happening again,” Ravi is believed to have tweeted.
The next day, Clementi was dead.
Authorities said the 18-year-old freshman committed suicide by jumping off the George Washington Bridge, which spans the Hudson River between New Jersey and New York. A law enforcement source told CNN that Clementi’s wallet and cell phone were found on the bridge.
The New York City Medical Examiner’s office said Thursday that a body recovered a day earlier from the Hudson River is Clementi’s.
Welcome to Spectrum, USI’s gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, and straight alliance! The main goal of the group is to create a more accepting atmosphere on campus and in the community toward GLBT individuals and to maintain a safe environment for students to share their thoughts, feelings, and experiences. Spectrum seeks to achieve this goal by presenting a positive image of the GLBT community, challenging prejudices, and leading by example. We welcome anyone who shares this vision with us!
Spectrum seeks to provide a safe and supportive environment for GLBT individuals and their straight allies. The group is a fully-sanctioned USI organization and operates under the auspices of the USI Office of Student Development.
We love our straight allies! Spectrum has always valued the support they receive from the heterosexual community and has maintained a number of straight members, many of which hold executive board positions. We are extremely grateful for our allies who carry our voices and tackle prejudices we are unable to reach. If you are a heterosexual who believes in the goals of Spectrum, come help us change attitudes on campus and in the community by becoming a straight ally!