In the wake of multiple homosexual student suicides across the country, UW-Madison's LGBTQ Campus Center is launching ""Stop the Silence,"" an anti-bullying campaign, as well as holding its annual Coming Out Week this week.
""We started the Stop the Silence campaign a few weeks ago to address LGBTQ bullying, harassment and homophobia on campus, in Madison and nationally,"" said LGBTQ Campus Center Director Robin Matthies. ""We plan on having a year full of events and educational programs that address these issues.""
The LGBTQ Campus Center started a Facebook group and will launch a website to provide resources for students for ""how to report bullying, how to combat bullying, how to deal with if they've been bullied in the past, especially due to recent events that may be triggering [emotions from being previously bullied] for some people,"" Matthies said.
The center will hold a Stop the Silence Glow Vigil to recognize the suicides on Oct. 20 from 8-10 p.m. on Library Mall.
During National Coming Out Week, the center will hold events and offers resources to students who are coming out and to allies who have friends they want to help in their process of coming out, according to LGBTQ Campus Center Student Services Specialist Aidan Caes.
Caes said the center's goal of the week is to promote visibility of LGBTQ students on campus.
""Particularly in light of the recent suicides and bullying across the country, we are saying LGBT students are on campus,"" said Caes. ""There are issues our community is facing, and we need to talk about that.""
