After endless banner making, facebook spamming, and rainbow-ifying, OPEN’s Week of Awareness went off with a minimal number of hitches and horror stories. Alright, well no real horror stories, but the realization that you’re out a sound tech before a benefit concert is mildly gut-wrenching. Ahem, let me recap:

Gamma Rho Lambda rapidly expands across the country as progressive LGBTA sorority

January 23, 2010 (Flagstaff, Arizona) — A new colony ofGamma Rho Lambda (GRL) has been recognized at Northern Arizona University(NAU). GRL is the first national sorority with a focus on a social support system for college students in the LGBTA (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and straight-ally) community. Colonies and chapters of GRL are rapidly spreading, now located in California, Arizona, Kansas, Indiana, and New York and will soon be recognized in Texas and Wisconsin.

The process of bringing a new chapter of GRL to NAU began over a year ago when Alison Schertenlieb, a sister of Arizona State University’s (ASU) Alpha Chapter, transferred schools to continue her studies in nursing. Schertenlieb and her 8 co-founders have worked tirelessly to gain recognition as a colony. She is very proud of how well her fellow founders work together. “Everyone just clicked from the beginning. We feel like sisters already,” Schertenlieb said.

The NAU colony is especially passionate about their group because NAU only has one LGBTQ student organization. “Greek life is a big part of NAU, and this is another avenue for queer and progressive students to be involved in Greek life”, said Schertenlieb. The NAU colony has greatly benefited from Schertenlieb's experience as a member of Alpha Chapter, “I think it's made me a little less nervous about starting a colony. I can't imagine going into it all without knowing anything about Greek life. I really commend those students who start GRL colonies at our other universities without prior experience in a Greek organization. It's much easier for me to work with the Greek system and tell potential members what to expect.”

REGISTER NOW

2010 Regional LGBT & Ally College Conferences

Every year thousands of LGBT college students and their allies meetfrom coast to coast to network, learn and celebrate with PRIDE. Choose from several LGBT national events and regional conferences across the United States. REGISTER NOW.

Feb 19-21 -- Midwest BGLTA College Conference
University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI
http://www.mblgtacc.org

Feb19-21 -- Western Regional LGBTQIA Conference
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
http://www.comeoutwest.org

April 2-4 -- Power of One Northwest LGBT Conference
Co-hosted by Washington StateUniversity and University of Idaho
http://www.nwlgbtleadership.wsu.edu/

Apr16-18 -- Northeast LGBT Conference
University at Buffalo – http://www.nelgbtc.com

Campus Pride is a Proud Partner

Believe In -- Campus Pride. Campus Pride is the leading national nonprofit organization 501(c)(3) for student leaders and campus organizations working to create safer, more LGBT-friendly colleges and universities. It exists to give "voice and action" in building future LGBT and ally leaders. More information online at www.campuspride.org

I have been getting a lot of questions about why I am so involved lately, so I decided to share my story with all of you blog readers.

All of my involvement started when I was in eighth grade. I was very involved with a few organizations at my middle school, and one of the advisors selected me to go to a conference put on by the Anti-Defamation League. She also selected which workshops we were going to attend. One of the workshops I attended had to do with LGBTA issues. This was the first time I heard the word gay or anything of the sort.

The only activity that I remember that day was an activity called Count Your Losses. What we had to do was take index cards and then they told us what to write down on each. They were things like your best friend, your favorite place to hang out, down to you hopes and dreams for the future. The facilitator then went through a had coming out experience. Your friends do not support you, so you tear up that card and watch the pieces fall to the floor. One by one all of the cards were torn up. The story ended with the person you “were” being attacked and killed in a parking lot. So you then take the cards with your hopes and dreams for the future fall to the floor. I remember them talking about Matthew Shepard at one point.

I was really confused and bothered by this activity. I could not believe that people would have to go through this just because they liked someone who was outside of the norm. After sitting with this information for awhile, I finally figured out what I could do to get involved. By this point I was at the high school, so I joined the Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA). I started getting very involved. Come senior year, I was the co-president of the club.

Sundays to many of us represent a day for worship, a day for family and a day for love. Since May 18, 2003, every Sunday has meant something different for me and my family. The six-year anniversary this May marks the day when I heard my father was killed.

My dad, Fred Windmeyer, was walking the family dog in our north Topeka, Kan., neighborhood that Sunday afternoon. He was just around the corner from our home by an elementary school when a drunk driver hit him. The drunk driver was 21 years old and four times the legal limit of alcohol. Witnesses estimate that the driver was going 70 miles per hour on a residential road when he topped the hill, crossed over the median and struck my father with a Chevrolet pickup truck. The young man did not stop the vehicle and instead ran off to hide at his home in the woods.

There are so many things wrong with what happened that Sunday. No family should ever have to face the loss of a loved one due to a drunk driver. My dad always told me that life was unfair and he was right. There is nothing fair about what happens to victims of drunk driving and their families.

My dad was a hard worker. He was a farmer and never went to college. I never would have imagined this, but my relationship with my dad grew stronger as a result of my coming out and being open and honest with him. He often joked that he wanted to adopt my partner Tom so he could be legally part of our family. Of course, I convinced him that was probably not the best option and it would be weird for my partner to be my legal brother. It was his sentiment that truly counted.

At my university, we have a program called SpeakOUT - basically a LGBTQA speakers bureau. We go up and tell our coming out stories then answer questions for the audience. It's really a great experience, and I love answering the questions - no matter how ridiculous some of them might be.

We have allies on our panels, and sometimes they get really silly questions. But one that I love the most is this - "What do I have to do to become an ally?"

Greetings everyone! So now it is my turn to tell you a little about myself. My name is Amy and I am a fourth year student at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo in the Central Coast of California. My major is Elementary Education; however, I plan on either being an event planner or continuing to work with the LGBTA community. I currently am a student coordinator at my school’s Pride Center. I am also the President of my school’s GSA, which we call Spectrum. On top of those, I am also a part of the Campus Q team for the Western Region. I found out about the Q Team from attending Campus Pride’s Summer Leadership Camp in 2008. While I am involved in all of these things, my story is different than a lot of people you will meet who are also involved. I am an ally. I have been involved with the LGBTA community since about 2001. When I am not devoting all of my time to LGBTA related things, I am the manager of my school’s wrestling team. I also love country music and go line dancing frequently. I live about 20 minutes from a few different beaches so I am often there on a sunny day. If you would like to know more about me, please feel free to ask! I would love to chat with you!