Name: Greer Klepacki
Year: Freshman
Major: Biology
What clubs are you involved with on campus?
I am the president of the Gay-Straight Alliance, or GSA Club and a member of the Feminist Discussion Group.
What is the mission of the Gay-Straight Alliance Club?
The main goal of the GSA Club is to establish a safe space. We have spent a considerable amount of time reviving the clubs after last year when the club was much smaller. Next semester we are going to focus more on volunteering and trying to make UP a better community.
What does it mean to establish a “safe-space”?
Safe spaces are places in which everyone feels included. A lot of people on campus think that the University is a safe space. But that’s because of their privilege. People think that because they feel safe that everyone feels the same. In reality members of the LGBTQA community often face micro-aggressions.
What are micro-aggressions?
Micro-aggressions, as defined by UCLA Diversity & Faculty Development, are the everyday verbal, nonverbal, and environmental slights, snubs, or insults, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative messages to target persons based solely upon their marginalized group membership. An example of this could be if you email your professor with your preferred pronouns and they refuse to use them or they neglect to use them. Or if someone neglects to ask what your preferred pronouns are that’s a micro-aggression without them knowing it.
How can we learn about these micro-aggressions?
The GSA Club held a Transgender Panel. It was started by my friend Zeke Pralle who faced micro-aggressions in Mehling. We held the panel to educate others and teach people how to be a good allies, or supporters of equal rights.
What does it mean to be a good ally?
The first step an ally can take is to recognize their privilege. Recognizing privilege helps you to not assume things about other people. Assumptions, even if they aren’t meant as an insult, can be a back handed compliment. Assumptions can make people feel lousy. Identifying as an ally is an awesome thing to do. Allies can be found in professors and friends.
What is the role that allies play in the LGBTQA community?
Some people count the A in LGBTQA (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer) as ally when really most consider it to stand for asexual. Actually the ally position can be an outlet for people who don’t feel comfortable to be out yet. Being an ally is a very safe place to be.
What are some of the focuses of the Transgender Panel?
Education is the first focus. I myself am very non-confrontational. Part of the education and awareness stage is clueing people in on the very real and very present micro-aggressions on campus. The worst and most abundant micro-aggression is assuming someone’s gender. Just ask “what are your preferred pronouns”. One simple way to be respectful is to use gender neutral pronouns “they/them” unless someone specifies what pronouns they want you to use. And asking for preferred pronouns is not insulting. People who are gender non-conforming actually want to be asked.
What do you do with the Feminist Discussion Group, FDG?
I actually work a lot with our president, Hannah Vogel. And FDG and GSA’s members crossover a lot. And I got to represent FDG for a radio talk show segment.
How do you feel we can address these issues as a Catholic school?
Well I was actually raised in the Catholic faith. I went to St. Mary’s. And I just want people to remember that Catholicism is a very progressive religion. Look at what Pope Francis is preaching. Stop using the religion as a crutch to support hate or bigotry when the church doesn’t even teach or foster those behaviors.
Have you talked with Campus Ministry about these issues?
Yeah, actually the GSA works with Father John. We had a discussion about what it means to redefine Catholicism. He’s explained that when religion is being redefined you can lose connection between the old generation and the new generation which can create a big problem.
Do you have any suggestions for how the UP community can improve?
One of the best things to do is to create awareness. Some of my suggestions would be to remove gendered language. Instead of saying “women’s restroom” just say “restroom”. Gendered language is very non-inclusive, and fosters this idea of strict separation. Another suggestion is to understand the difference between “sex” and “gender”. The dorms misuse gender to establish its rules. UP maintains “Intervisitation Hours” to prohibit people of opposite “genders” from the dorm halls after a certain time. When in reality these rules should be addressing sex not gender. Sex is something that is assigned whereas gender is subjective and personal, and something that could quite possibly be a social construct.
What have your experiences on campus and in the dorms been like?
Currently, Mehling is the safest place for non-conforming people. But even the Mehling can stand to be improved. Mehling is not great at including all sexual orientations. I have to pretend that my partner is just my friend. And that’s just not fair. If I did what heterosexual people did, I would get a lot of strange looks and I have. That’s not something that I should have to deal when I’m with the person that I love.
I’ve also had some issues when expressing my frustrations with Rez-Life. Rez-Life has denied that gender inclusive change can happen. They say that Mehling is an all-female dorm but that is simply not true as it is a home to many gender non-conforming people. People need a safe space. If Mehling is the only safe space, and not the best one at that, then we have a problem
Do you think the University can ever change?
Well the University listens most to its alumni and donors. So I guess they have that voice. I remember when the Purple Pride protest happened they finally included sexual orientation in the protection clause but they neglected to include gender identity. I think as the University becomes more progressive with the religion some of these changes will happen. I hope.