The UA system’s lack of protection for gays and lesbians is the topic of a front page article in this month’s UAA student newspaper The Northern Light. The article quotes Regent Kirk Wikersham as saying that he hasn’t heard much about adding sexual orientation to the non-discrimination policy:

“I haven’t heard anything antidotal regarding the issue when I travel to different campuses,” Regent Kirk Wikersham said. “I don’t know if (a policy) would pass right now. The board has not really spoke privately on the subject, but we decided at our retreat in January we would deal with it this year.”

Students have raised the issue before the board at every public regents’ meeting for over a year, sharing their concerns about the lack of protection for LGBT students, staff and faculty in the UA system. Apparently, Regent Wikersham needs to hear more.

If you study or work on a UA campus and have ever seen, heard or experienced unfair treatment of LGBT people, be sure to tell the regents about that (without outing the people involved.) LGBT people who are currently being harassed are less likely to speak up for themselves, for fear of being outed or fired, so it’s important that we speak for them.

If you have friends at other campuses, especially the smaller ones, please ask them to contact the regents as well. There are LGBT people at every UA campus, and the regents need to hear from them and their friends.

“Seeing as this has been an ongoing issue for about 25 years, I don’t see it going away,” [Jessica Angelette, the GSA president at UAF] said. “There is too much press and public interest, and not just in Alaska but the entire nation.”