Mentor

Coe is overall an exceptionally open-minded and supportive college campus. I will never discount that fact. However, this is not to say that heterosexism, transphobia, sexism, and peer-induced depression doesn't occur. A gay male student was forced to drop out a year ago due to an overwhelming amount of entirely unprompted harassment on the basis of his openly-stated sexuality. A friend of mine heard his ex-boyfriend's last moments before he killed himself last semester. Several transgender students "hate on" our Coe (LGBT) Alliance on the basis that the organization dismisses the "T." Three separate first-years have approached me because they were facing immense emotional difficulty due to their own sexuality or due to an LGBT-related tragedy that has occurred to them or someone they love.

For these reasons, some other LGBT students and I have begun collaborating with our campus's Diversity Committee chair to form an LGBT peer-mentorship program on campus, a small group of students/upperclassmen who are seen as individuals rather than as a group like Coe Alliance. We're organizing an open panel that will hopefully bring attention to us as a unique separate group of individuals looking to help.

In short, I'm sick of the taboo that exists over mental health and LGBT-related struggles even within the LGBT community itself. Not everyone needs to come to Alliance. Not everyone needs to have these "gay" discussions I have daily with my friends and fellow LGBT-identifying students. And not everyone has to be LGBTQetc. to suffer emotionally in these respects. A straight, white male, just an hour ago, approached me to tell me he was having a tough time, and I want to help this person through this week, through next week, and through any other emotional adversity that arises. And there is nothing I am doing right now that I wouldn't put down in a second to go speak with someone or help someone who is struggling in any of these respects right now.

Of course, as anyone who's spent even an hour with me knows, I'm a sarcastic, overall cynical-sounding person. People have said I'm not approachable or that I'm intimidating, but the simple fact is that, as of this moment: I'm here to help those who want it and those who I can help. And there are others around(six people I could name right now) who are just as much "here to help," and between us all--through this new peer-mentorship program--I believe we, as a set of individuals rather than as a group, can help any struggling LGBTQetc(or straight) person on campus.

Yet I'm left with a series of make-or-break questions:
Does my sarcastic personality relay the message to others that I'm cynical and not actually supportive? Does this mentorship program's affiliation with Coe College staff mean that a student is going to be more likely to dismiss it as too official? Would a struggling student rather talk to someone they perceive simply as another student? Will I personally be able to help anyone? Will this program further perpetuate the idea that LGBT people need help? Am I making a bigger deal about all this than I should be? When does this schpeal become just another example of my pretentiousness?