By Patrick Greenwell

Sexual orientation is a growing issue throughout the United States, and college campuses are no exception. Most students, regardless of their own sexuality, know a member of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community. The LGBT community has founded several Resident Student Organization’s, and they also run many high profile campus-wide events. However, has such an active LGBT community had any impact on the attitudes of others on campus?
Brian Buford, the LGBT Program Manager, sees a definite change in the perception of LGBT students.
“We’ve come a long way on campus,” said Buford. “Years ago, people knew very little. Now, they have a much higher sense of awareness.”
Buford has been working at the University of Louisville for 20 years and has been teaching students about LGBT issues as long as he has been here.
When the position of LGBT Program Manager opened last year, Buford applied while hiking the Appalachian Trail.  
“A consistent presence is important,” said Buford. “This is a long term project.”
This year, he is helping to coordinate the LGBT groups on campus. He has a monthly meeting with the leaders of all the organizations, with the goal of building a campus-wide community.
Of the organizations that make up this community, the most predominant LGBT group on campus is commonGround, which meets every Tuesday night at 7:30.
“commonGround is there to provide a place where LGBT students can come together and support each other,” said Buford. “As well as advocate for a welcome campus climate, reduce prejudice and educate others.”
The group is responsible for a number of activities on campus. Pride Week begins October 6 and will consist of a number of events organized by commonGround including a speech by author and TV host Keith Boyken and a “Friends and Family Night” for LGBT community members. Later this year commonGround will hold PINK, an amateur drag show, which is the longest running RSO program at U of L.
“commonGround wants to help people understand the LGBT community and show them that we are people just like everyone else,” said freshman commonGround member Clay Berry. “We may be different, but different doesn’t mean worse or better. We live day by day just like every other human being.”
In addition to commonGround, numerous other LGBT organizations exist. Health Sciences for Human Rights started this year as a group for LGBT students on the Health Sciences campus. Transformations is a transgender organization created to help introduce transgender students to people who support them.
Beyond LGBT organizations, the community has numerous “Ally” organizations that support them on campus.
The Association of Black Students gave the LGBT community its office, located in the Intersection area of the Red Barn. It is the only college LGBT office in the state. When the ABS began looking for someone to share the space in the Red Barn, commonGround board members Ryan Kuyers and Rosie Washington volunteered immediately.
“The Intersection is a place where all students can come, feel comfortable, and share who they are,” said ABS President Demetrius Gray.
The U of L Baptist Campus Ministry has been partnered with commonGround and the LGBT community since Pride Week last year. The BCM President organized a group around the “Live Homosexual Acts” event that week and the BCM served free pizza to commonGround members at their meeting and began a conversation between the two groups.
“Brian Buford did a good job of having an open dialogue between

the groups,” said campus minister Bill Noe. “Both of us got to hear what the other had to say. We had a chance just to listen. It was a great step.”
Even with all this progress, homophobia still has a presence on campus. “We are made up of a wide variety of people,” said Noe. “Some people grow up in a tradition that makes it difficult to converse with members of the LGBT community. We are trying to bridge that gap.”
“Of course there’s the homophobia you experience when you live on campus,” said sophomore political science major and commonGround member Jessica Crum. “I’m lucky to have a great roommate, but some people aren’t so keen on living in close proximity to someone they know is gay.”
One person working on the issue of homophobia in the dorms is LaMont Johnson, Residence Life Assistant Community Manager at U of L Properties. This summer, Buford inspired Johnson and several RAs after he spoke during their training. They put together the “Love & Hate” program in Herman and Heddy Kurz Hall. The program, which ran from on Aug. 21, consisted of a sequence of exhibits depicting the kind of harassment LGBT students face. They also put together a short film depicting LGBT abuse through historical footage.  
“When we dehumanize people for having a different sexuality than our own, we are minimizing ourselves and forgo that best quality we have as human beings: the capacity to love,” said Johnson.
The purpose of “Love and Hate” according to Johnson, was “starting a conversation at the beginning of the school year about the standards of respect we have at U of L. I wanted to provoke my students and to make them think as they went through the exhibit.”
Buford encourages students to come to commonGround and see if they’d like to get involved.
“The more people who take that step,” said Buford, “the harder it is for homophobia to exist on campus.”