Pride, SSA Collaborate on Love Has No Label Panel

“How did your parents react to you coming out?” was among the questions privately written by audience members during the panel hosted by Pride and Secular Student Alliance members Thursday evening in the University Ballroom Center.

Questions were deep and honest and provided audience members with different perspectives among the Pride and SSA members. Each question asked was open to whoever wanted to answer it.

While almost every member spoke on the topic, a range of answers circulated the room. Some members explained they had overwhelming support while others touched on the difficulty their loved ones had in accepting them for who they are.

Different answers gave audience members many viewpoints on honest topics throughout the discussions.

It was a great environment for students to engage in conversation regarding personal views and identifications. Discussions were focused on questions relating to sexuality, religious views as well as labels that define people.

Audience member Kailey Greaser, a junior at Southeast, said she was interested in coming to the panel as she has been working alongside SSA on a recent project.

While there was a lot to take in during the hour long panel, Greaser explained what stood out to her the most.

“Just how open everyone was and how encouraging everyone was to each other,” said Greaser.

Those who made the experience comfortable and encouraging was Martha Taylor, president of the Secular Student Alliance group here on campus.

Taylor said her and a friend restarted the group roughly three years ago, and it has continued to grow in the recent years. With three panels in the last month, Taylor notes they have had a busy semester and look forward to continuing the growth in the coming months.

Thursday evening marked the second panel SSA has collaborated with Pride on, as they work with all types of groups ranging from, interfaith groups, political groups, anthropology groups along with plenty others.

With SSA growing in popularity among students here at Southeast, Taylor explains the importance of their overall message that she hopes reaches students of all make ups.

“We embrace humanism, coexistence, religious pluralism and provide secular peersport, secular issue awareness to secular students, but are also open to other people,” she said.

Connecting with students of all types only builds on what SSA is all about.

“We just wanna build bridges of understanding between the religious and the non-religious because we do not talk to each other enough,” Taylor said. “We are more alike than different. We also like to clear up misconceptions because there are a lot of them,” said Taylor.

SSA will continue to host panels throughout the semester as well as helping the students of Southeast.

“We are good people and we do good things,” said Taylor.

For more upcoming events with Pride or SSA, check them out on their facebook page.