With
National
Coming
Out Day just over a week
away,
the
Ross
School
of
Business’s
LGBTQ
organization,
Out
for
Business, hosted OUTx on
Tuesday evening as part of
Ross Coming Out Week. OFB
sponsors Ross Coming Out
Week annually, featuring
events
highlighting
and
supporting
the
LGBTQ
community
within
the
Business School. Michigan
Business Women and the
MBA Council cosponsored
the TEDx-style event.
Business
graduate
students
James
Lee
and Laura Malecky, the
co-presidents
of
OFB,
began
the
event
with
introductions.
Malecky
said she wanted the event
to bring together LGBTQ
individuals and allies to
normalize
conversations
about coming out and help
promote LGBTQ culture.
“The goal of today’s event
was for people to share their
stories to help others better
understand
beyond
the
label of LGBTQ, and to help
build solidarity and build
inclusive
communities,”
Malecky
said.
“And
obviously this is the first
step.”
The
keynote
speaker,
Nathan Manske, discussed
I’m From Driftwood, the
non-profit he founded based
on his experiences growing
up as a queer individual in a
small Texas town.
I’m From Driftwood, now
in its 10th year, is an online
archive of stories from the
LGBTQ community and its
allies. The website features
both
written
accounts
and video stories, some of
which Manske highlighted
during the event. Manske
attributed the name of his
non-profit to Harvey Milk’s
sign featured in the 1978 San
Francisco Gay Pride Parade.
Manske said he wants I’m
From Driftwood to serve
as a reminder to LGBTQ
individuals
everywhere
they are not alone.
“One
remarkable
characteristic
of
spoken
stories is that they actually
synchronize the brains of
the speaker and listener,”
Manske said.
Manske also spoke about
I’m From Driftwood’s 50
State Story tour, during
which he traveled to all 50
states to collect stories from
LGBTQ people. Manske
believes the importance
of I’m From Driftwood
lies in the essence of
the shared community
that’s created through
the telling and sharing
of stories.
Following
Manske’s
presentation,
three
speakers
took
the
stage
to
share
their
coming
out
stories.
Each
story
received
a
standing
ovation
from the audience of
around
150
students,
faculty
members
and
local
community
members. These stories
highlighted the diverse
experiences of coming
out as LGBTQ as well
as the importance of
having a network of
support both during and
after the coming out
process.
Business
graduate
student Georgia Cassady
told The Daily after the
event that she came to
OUTx as an ally of the
LGBTQ
community
and
hoped to better understand
some
of
the
challenges
LGBTQ
individuals
face
when they decide to come
out.
“(It was great) to hear
about the different ways
that people came to terms
with who they are, how
they figured it out and
then the different tactics
and strategies they had for
actually deciding it was
time to come out and who to
come out to,” Cassady said.
Much of the discussion
during the panel focused on
the importance of breaking
down labels in order to make
the Michigan community
and society at large more
inclusive. Steven Feder, vice
president of events for OFB,
also
pointed
to
LGBTQ
resources on the University
of Michigan’s campus, such
as the Spectrum Center,
which seeks to promote a
diverse, collaborative space
on campus.
Feder told The Daily he
wanted Ross Coming Out
Week to include more events,
such as conversation-based
events like OUTx. Feder
added that events focusing
on sharing stories are a
better way to bring together
the LGBTQ community and
its allies, especially within
the business world.
“I think that the people
in this room will be future
CEOs, CFOs, CMOs, heads
of non-profits,” Feder said.
“And for them to have a
better
understanding
of
the emotional intensities
(of coming out) and what
you deal with as a member
of the LGBT community, I
think that will make them
better leaders.”
COLLECTING FOU ND PHOTOGR APHS
2A — Wednesday, October 2, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
CLAIRE MEINGAST/Daily
Photographs hanging in the interactive exhibit “Take Your Pick: Collecting Found Photographs” located in University of Michigan’s Museum of Art.
TUESDAY:
By Design
THURSDAY:
Twitter Talk
FRIDAY:
Behind the Story
MONDAY:
Looking at the Numbers
WEDNESDAY:
This Week in History
ERIN GRANT
Daily Staff Reporter
Non-profit founder Nathan Manske gives keynote address, discusses personal experience
Ross’s Out for Business hosts talk focusing
on support for members of LGBTQ community
SPOOKY SZN
puzzle by sudokusyndication.com
Gay rights advocates question ROTC ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’
October 1, 1993
Big changes could be in store for
campus attitudes and policies this
fall, in ROTC as well as
gay activist circles, as students
face the first academic year under
President Clinton’s “don’t
ask, don’t tell” military policy.
As a branch of the U.S. military,
ROTC, which is responsible for
recruiting more than 70 percent
of today’s military personnel, is
subjected to the new rule affecting
the armed forces. Under the new
policy, students are no longer
required to sign a form stating they
are heterosexual in order to join
ROTC. However, as in the military,
the ban against homosexual activity
is still in effect, and “if someone
is engaged in direct homosexual
type of activity, that actually could
result in their being removed from
the service,” said Robert Shepherd,
the public affairs officer for the U.S.
Army ROTC Cadet Command.
Clinton’s policy - a compromise
of his original campaign promise
- is affecting ROTCs on college
campuses nationwide for the first
time, and gay rights groups are
not satisfied. The American Civil
Liberties Union (ACLU) is unhappy
with the policy’s implications for
ROTC, and it is prepared to fight.
National ACLU spokesperson
Alexander Robinson contends that
ROTC should be removed from
campuses because it violates many
universities’
non-discrimination
policies. The nationalACLU is
currently involved in a legal battle
supporting
several
plaintiffs
against the “don’t ask, don’t tell”
policy, citing the equal protection
provision, First Amendment and
right to free association under the
Constitution.
The question of discrimination
in ROTC is not a new one. A
national
debate
escalated
on
campuses about five years ago,
when
student
demonstrators
called for the ban of ROTC based
on discrimination against gays
and lesbians. Several institutions,
including
Harvard
University,
Colby
College
and
Rutgers
University, abandoned their ROTC
programs altogether. Bonnie Nix,
president of the University ACLU,
is hesitant about calling for any
drastic action.
“I really think that at this point
we need some kind of small, slow,
incremental-type change,” she said.
Local gay rights activists plan
to focus on changing policies
within the ROTC system, rather
than banning the program. But
neither the University Lesbian Gay
Male Bisexual Program nor the
University ACLU have immediate
plans to challenge the policy.
Nix said she is opposed to
Clinton’s policy, and said University
policy that forbids discrimiation
on the basis of sexual orientation
“brings into question a lot of what
ROTC is doing.”
University regent’s Bylaw 14.06
-- a non-discrimination policy --
was amended at last Friday’s Board
of Regents meeting to prohibit
discrimination based on sexual
orientation.
LSA senior Chad Beyer, an active
member of Queer Action, said he
is against ROTC’s presence on
campus because “gays and lesbians
share this community with them
and they have an explicit rule that
the discriminate against us.”
“I really think that if the
University wants to prove that it is
committed to fostering diversity,
that it really has to hold the
ROTC accountable to the same
standards… that gays and lesbians
are not discriminated against on
this campus.
David
Schwartz,
a
campus
ACLU officer, asked, “Is the ‘don’t
ask, don’t tell’ policy a policy against
discrimination on the basis of
sexual orientation? I think it is. But
I don’t know what the University is
going to be able to do about it.”
But University ROTC students
said they are satisfied with the
policy.
“If it doesn’t compromise what
we’re trying to do here in the ROTC
program, then I’m all for it. If (gay
recruits) do what they’re supposed
to do and do it right, and do it with
honor and they work hard, I have
no problem wuth it at all,” said a
Navy ROTC member, who spoke on
the condition of anonymity.
The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published Monday through Friday during
the fall and winter terms by students at the University OF Michigan. One copy is
available free of charge to all readers. Additional copies may be picked up at the
Daily’s office for $2. Subscriptions for September-April are $250 and year long
subscriptions are $275. University affiliates are subject to a reduced subscription
rate. On-campus subscriptions for fall term are $35. Subscriptions must be prepaid.
FINNTAN STORER
Managing Editor
frstorer@michigandaily.com
GRACE KAY and ELIZABETH LAWRENCE
Managing News Editors news@michigandaily.com
Senior News Editors: Sayali Amin, Rachel Cunningham, Remy Farkas, Leah
Graham, Amara Shaikh
Assistant News Editors: Barbara Collins, Julia Fanzeres, Claire Hao, Alex
Harring, Angelina Little, Madeline McLaughlin, Ben Rosenfeld, Emma Stein,
Zayna Syed, Liat Weinstein
JOEL DANILEWITZ and MAGDALENA MIHAYLOVA
Editorial Page Editors tothedaily@michigandaily.com
Senior Opinion Editors: Emily Considine, Krystal Hur, Ethan Kessler, Miles
Stephenson, Erin White
ARYA NAIDU and VERITY STURM
Managing Arts Editors
arts@michigandaily.com
ALEXIS RANKIN and ALEC COHEN
Managing Photo Editors photo@michigandaily.com
ANDREA PÉREZ BALDERRAMA
Statement Editor statement@michigandaily.com
Deputy Editors: Matthew Harmon, Shannon Ors
SILAS LEE and EMILY STILLMAN
Managing Copy Editors copydesk@michigandaily.com
Senior Copy Editors: Dominick Sokotoff, Olivia Sedlacek, Reece Meyhoefer
CASEY TIN and HASSAAN ALI WATTOO
Managing Online Editors
webteam@michigandaily.com
Senior Web Developers: Jonathon Liu, Abha Panda, Ryan Siu, David Talbot,
Samantha Cohen
ELI SIDER
Managing Video Editor video@michigandaily.com
Senior Michigan in Color Editors: Lorna Brown, Samuel So, Ana Maria
Sanchez-Castillo, Efe Osagie, Danyel Tharakan
Assistant Michigan in Color Editors: Harnoor Singh, Nada Eldawy, Maya
Mokh
ZELJKO KOSPIC
Special Projects Manager
ANITA MICHAUD
Brand Manager
Senior Sports Editors: Anna Marcus, Aria Gerson, Ben Katz, Mark Calcagno,
Theo Mackie, Tien Le
Assistant Sports Editors: Bailey Johnson, Bennett Bramson, Connor Brennan,
Jacob Kopnick, Jorge Cazares, Rian Ratnavale
Senior Video Editors: Ryan O’Connor, Joseph Sim
Senior Social Media Editor: Allie Phillips
Stanford Lipsey Student Publications Building
420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1327
www.michigandaily.com
ARTS SECTION
arts@michigandaily.com
SPORTS SECTION
sports@michigandaily.com
ADVERTISING
dailydisplay@gmail.com
NEWS TIPS
news@michigandaily.com
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
tothedaily@michigandaily.com
EDITORIAL PAGE
opinion@michigandaily.com
TOMMY DYE
Business Manager
734-418-4115 ext. 1241
tomedye@michigandaily.com
MAYA GOLDMAN
Editor in Chief
734-418-4115 ext. 1251
mayagold@michigandaily.com
PHOTOGRAPHY SECTION
photo@michigandaily.com
NEWSROOM
734-418-4115 opt. 3
CORRECTIONS
corrections@michigandaily.com
MAX MARCOVITCH and ETHAN SEARS
Managing Sports Editors sportseditors@michigandaily.com
Senior Arts Editors: Clara Scott, Emma Chang, Cassandra Mansuetti, Sam
Della Fera, Trina Pal
Arts Beat Editors: John Decker, Sayan Ghosh, Mike Watkins, Ally Owens,
Stephen Satarino, Izzy Hasslund, Margaret Sheridan
ROSEANNE CHAO and JACK SILBERMAN
Managing Design Editors
design@michigandaily.com
Senior Design Editor: Sherry Chen
NA’KIA CHANNEY and CARLY RYAN
Michigan in Color Editors michiganincolor@michigandaily.com
MADALASA CHAUDHARI and HANNAH MESKIN
Managing Social Media Editors
Editorial Staff
Business Staff
RYAN KELLY
Sales Manager
ROBERT WAGMAN
Marketing Consulting Manager
Senior Photo Editors: Alexandria Pompei, Natalie Stephens, Alice Liu, Allison
Engkvist, Danyel Tharakan
Assistant Photo Editors: Miles Macklin, Keemya Esmael, Madeline Hinkley,
Ryan McLoughlin
MOLLY WU
Creative Director
CATHERINE NOUHAN
Managing Podcast Editor
Read more at
MichiganDaily.com