Cerritos College staff, along with a few students, ate lunch in the Student Center on Tuesday, Oct. 17 while being educated on how to provide a safe place for members of the LQBTQ+ community in the classroom and throughout the school.
Raja Bhattar, social justice educator at UCLA, lead the informative lunch.
The lunchtime workshop built on the Safe Zone Ally training that was provided by Cerritos College the Friday before.
Discussions about “all gender language” not “gender neutral” language were held to prove the point that gender is important and that educators involved in Safe Zone are “not trying to take your gender away,” in the words of Bhattar.
The overall goal of this lunch was to push the boundaries of a safe zone and get educators to consider the type of language they use in the class or how to address students who are unsupportive of LGBTQ+ students.
Alfred Casalva, social work major, described the reason why he felt inspired to get involved in Safe Zone — “Family, friends and [the] students that I am familiar with and aware of the barriers they face on campus and their attempts to over-come those.”
Queer students face many obstacles on and off campus.
Their sexual preference and gender identity is something that affects their daily lives. Safe Zone wants to make the daily grind a bit simpler for them.
Bhattar suggested announcing where the all gender restrooms are located in the building they are in, encouraging the class to introduce themselves on the first day with their name, major and preferred pronouns.
Members of safe zone also want to emphasize that “you don’t have to be queer to enter our spaces” and that they are “committed to keeping students feeling safe on campus.”
“A safe space is somewhere where we can be inclusive to anyone no matter gender, race, how they identify or what their pronouns are,” said Monica Acuna, development assistant at the Human Recources.
Safe Zone at Cerritos is currently working to produce a map of the all gendered bathrooms available on campus as well as work to provide trans inclusive plans to events on campus.
If you or anyone you know is in need of a safe zone, look for the Safe Zone sicker and know who you can approach to ask questions, discuss issues on campus with the person who’s sticker it is.
