Trinity’s EROS club can change the campus culture

MARINA PAPPAS ’19
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Everyone had better get ready to taste the rainbow because Encouraging Respect Of Sexualities (EROS) is here and ready to make an impact.
This club is like your high school’s Gay-Straight Alliance but about a thousand times better. It has its own house called the Queer Resource Center and hosts events like Ally Week, a film festival and, in the spring, the extremely popular Drag Show! The goal of this organization is to create a safe and welcoming environment within the Trinity community for people who identify as lesbian, bisexual, gay, or transgender.
EROS is all about acceptance. It is about bringing awareness to Trinity and making the whole campus a place where people can be who they are without fear of judgment or ridicule. Co-presidents Madeline Burns and Jennifer Idrovo are putting in all their effort to make EROS a voice that is heard.
“We feel we are the most welcoming group on campus, and we want people to not view it as an exclusive group it all. We want to be recognized on campus as a prominent community. We encourage allies to come as well. We want everyone to love Trinity, and for that to happen we don’t want high transfer rates because [students] are uncomfortable,” Burns and Idrovo said.
Currently, Trinity College is ranked 13th on the Princeton Review’s Most Homophobic, or “gay-unfriendly” as they call it, college list. According to the Review, this means that Trinity is basically one of the worst places for LGBT people to attend college, which EROS is trying to fix.
As of last year, Trinity held the number eight spot on the Most Homophobic list. In the past year there has been improvement, but not enough.
Some might blame the fact that the campus is small, so maybe there are not enough people who are a part of the LBGT community to make this whole campus a Safe Space. But that is just it, we are the small community of Trinity College where it is on every individual- gay, straight, black, white, green or blue for all it matters, to be a good person in our daily interactions.
Change in Trinity’s overall image will rely on the conversations we have and the impact we make, whether those will be positive or negative, is up to each person.
So keep this in mind: if someone is brave enough to be authentically themselves, regardless of whether in terms of sexual orientation, having a goofy personality or the like, then respect the courage that person has.
For the most part, being uniquely oneself is absolutely terrifying. Even though it may be difficult, it also gives others the opportunity to support the person you are. That is what being a part of EROS is, it’s supporting and being supported.
Now what? Everyone and anyone are invited to come hang out and meet at the Queer Resource Center, or QRC, at 114 Crescent Street Thursdays at 5pm. Even better, there’s fantastic Brunch every Sunday from 1pm-4pm. Everyone is welcome, and individuality is encouraged. EROS and the QRC are centers for acceptance and support, so join us!