Over 50 OU community members marched across campus to deliver a list of recommendations to President Joseph Harroz Jr. in a national walkout for 2SLGBTQ+ equality on National Coming Out Day Tuesday, along with over 100 other universities in the U.S.
Strike Out Queerphobia: Walkout for 2SLGBTQ+ Equality, organized by the Religious Exemptions Accountability Project and The Black Menaces, staged demonstrations across the country in response to discrimination and harm to 2SLGBTQ+ people on college campuses and by state legislators.
OU’s LGBTQ+ Student Alliance led the walkout, saying OU has not fully met the original call to action items outlined in the Queer Inclusion on Campus report from 2015. In the 20-page document, students outlined how OU can better support members of the 2SLGBTQ+ community, including creating a student lounge, inclusive housing options and the usage of preferred names and pronouns in university systems and documents.
With this, the student organization also said recent policies and bills — such as Senate Bill 2, Senate Bill 3 and House Bill 1775 — passed by the Oklahoma legislature are directly affecting and harming members of the 2SLGBTQ+ community at OU and across the state.
Hey OU! I will be covering the Strike Out Queerphobia: Walk out for 2SLGBTQ+ Equality on campus today for @OUDaily. Follow here for updates!
— Karoline Leonard (@karolineleo_) October 11, 2022
The group chanted “queerphobia has got to go” as they marched from Gaylord Hall to Evans Hall to give Harroz their call to action items, which included adding and improving OU’s bias incident reporting, more inclusive housing options for 2SLGBTQ+ students and gender-confirming care coverage in the student health plan and healthcare packages for university employees.
Emily Miller, an OU biology and psychology senior, shared her story, saying she was asked to step down from a leadership position at an organization on campus.
“True inclusion is not just being tolerated,” Miller said. “We're calling on OU to do more than tolerate us. … We deserve to be heard, and we deserve to be seen. We deserve to be free to be our authentic selves.”
Colin Mcpherson, a political science freshman, said they have been the subject of harassment and discrimination on campus, having been the victim of several bias-related incidents. Mcpherson said they hope OU takes their recommendations seriously, bringing more inclusive housing to keep 2SLGBTQ+ students safe, while also offering them a way to report incidents easily and receive support quickly.
Lydia Burger, microbiology and public and nonprofit administration senior, read an anonymous submission similar to Mcpherson's story, saying the student experienced microaggressions from a roommate freshman year at OU, and, after reporting the incidents to a resident adviser, did not receive an emergency room change or care.
Strike-out queer-phobia walk out on Oct. 11, 2022
OU LGBTQ+ Student Alliance president and religious studies and public and nonprofit administration senior Ezra Koenig, along with another student, delivered the action items to Harroz, while the advocates waited outside and continued to chant.
Koenig ended the protest, offering a petition for community members to sign urging the university to address equality issues on campus and President Joseph Biden to address the nationwide struggles of 2SLGBTQ+ on college campuses. Koenig said they hope to make OU administration aware of the ”inequality” on campus and to work alongside administration to address those shortcomings and make the university a safe and more inclusive place.
“We want to see an inclusive, safe and equitable OU for the (2SLGBTQ+) students, faculty and staff,” Koenig said. “We want to reach an extending hand to our university, specifically to work with us to reduce areas of harm and promote inclusion for 2SLGBTQ+ students, faculty and staff on our campus.”
