Cat Levine, Reporter
@catcourant
Ally Day is tomorrow, Friday the 22nd of April. Students are encouraged to wear rainbow or tie die and sign a banner to be an ally in order to promote the awareness of the LGBTQ community.
According to Co-advisor Jessica Cullen, Ally Day is a new spirit day which encourages the education and support of LGBTQ rights. “In addition to showing support by wearing rainbow or tie-dye colors that day, students are invited to sign a pledge to be an Ally on a banner in the Cafeteria,” she said. “This pledge suggests specific things they can do in order to be an ally. The hope is that this pledge will help to draw awareness to the cause.”
Co-advisor Robert Darken compares the differences in messages between Ally Day and the other spirit days NCHS has during homecoming week. “We need to make people aware that they exist and that they matter. It’s about a kind of unity, but it’s also about recognizing diversity and practicing acceptance so we can be unified even if we are different,” he said.
Member of the Art Club Amy Chu is excited to work on the banner because she thinks it will convey a strong message. “It’s going to be a big banner and therefore will be very easy to see everyone’s different handprints and styles of artwork; the mass involvement to create it and added signatures will make people feel apart of it and stand in solidarity with the LGBTQ community.”
President of the Human Rights Advocates Jenny Levine discusses how Ally Day will help to educate others on LGBTQ issues such as identifying with the correct pronoun. “It’s one thing to say I want to be an ally, it’s another to actually be an ally,” she said. “Hopefully by outlining the specific ways to become an ally, like calling people by the correct pronouns, it raises visibility that there are students other than yourselves. We want to change the attitude in the student population on what it means to be lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or other forms of expression.”
Ms. Cullen believes that Ally Day will help the students and every member of the community learn more about LGBTQ presence. “Discrimination against LGBTQ kids happens everywhere,” she said. “I think that here at NCHS, we tend to have a very supportive and open-minded student body, but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t happen here. There is a lot of misinformation and lack of awareness out there about these issues, and the more informed people are, the more tolerant and supportive the environment.”
Ms. Cullen hopes that from Ally Day, other students will be educated on new issues and participate in events that will later be addressed by the club. “When the group attended the human rights conference this spring, they were exposed to a variety of topics that they want to research further next year,” she said. “They hope to design experiences around some of these issues to promote awareness, and to present at next year’s conference again. We are always looking for more students who care about these issues and are looking for an opportunity to get involved.
