Validated, valued, and victorious at Elon
As we welcome our LGBTQIA and ally students, faculty and staff back to campus, we must also take time to reflect upon the national conversations surrounding LGBTQIA events, tragedies and victories. In the aftermath of the creation of HB2, we saw the U.S. Department of Justice sue North Carolina over illegal and unconstitutional discrimination that violates three federal civil rights laws. Then our hearts sank as we all laid witness to the deadliest mass shooting in the United States by a single gunman, where 49 people — mostly LGBTQIA and Latinx — were slain in Orlando. A few weeks following the tragic and terrifying attack in Orlando, the Pentagon announced the inclusion of transgender individuals to join as active members of the military, ending a decades-long ban.