Triangle Coalition meets

By Matt Reinig

Published Aug. 31, 2007

The Triangle Coalition's members, officers and allies had their first meeting Wednesday night at the Women's Center in Brady Commons to discuss their goals for the 2007-2008 school year.

The meeting consisted of representatives from the Women's Center, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Resource Center, the Office of Multicultural Affairs, the Gaines/Oldham Black Culture Center, the MU Student Health Center and the Chancellors Diversity Initiative. Members joined together under the theme of student service and unity.

The LGBT Resource Center and its organizations are the first agencies in Columbia to offer services to the LGBT community that are met with an ever-increasing demand extending beyond campus.

"The Resource Center, which specializes in advocacy and education, not only focuses on the campus community, but certainly collaborates within the entire Columbia community," LGBT Resource Center Coordinator John Faughn said.

The Resource Center and its staff are always readily available for questions and consultation in a safe, no-questions-asked environment, the LGBT Web site states.

Other services promoted at the meeting were sexual consultation, free pregnancy testing and contraceptives provided by the various organizations.

Two programs discussed at the LGBT meeting were OUTreach and InsideOUT, which are activities for students who wish to become more involved with LGBT this year. The OUTreach Program is a safe and communal atmosphere in which participants express their "coming out" stories, Faughn said. The InsideOUT program is a similar discussion forum where participants can share personal experiences as well as contemporary issues.

The Triangle Coalition is also involved in the Greek chapter Gamma Rho Lambda, a progressive social sorority that exemplifies "the qualities of tolerance, diversity and acceptance," according to the MU chapter of Gamma Rho Lambda's Web site.

"We find a need to build sisterhood amongst women who really don't have a common place to go to," Gamma Rho Lambda Vice President Kelley Robinson said. "We want to do everything we can to make people feel like a part of the university."

The most highly anticipated event discussed at the Women's Center on Wednesday night was National Coming Out Day on Oct. 11 and the organization's guest of honor, Peaches Christ, a transgender actor, film director and producer from San Francisco.

"It's going to be something that people have never seen" Faughn said. "She's going to open with a song, show three short films and provide commentary in between. It is something that will truly show people they can be as unique and different as they wish to be, yet still prove successful."