There’s a difference
Over the past few days I’ve seen a lot of coverage about the rally we had on the WSU campus in response to the recent hate crimes in the Moscow and Pullman areas. I was happy to see a story on your Web site, and grateful for how many news sources discussed it before and after it happened [“WSU students wearing red to support gays,” News, Oct. 28].
Unfortunately, most news sources said the rally was in support of gay students. That is not accurate. We were in support of GLBT [gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender] students. It may not seem like a big distinction to some, but for members of the queer community, it erases most of our identities.
Several of these attacks were directly related to someone’s gender identity or expression; that is rendered invisible when you call us all “gay.”
Gender identity and expression are very different from sexuality. We’re not just gay — we are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer.
I’d also like to mention many of us are allies [friends of the gay community], who have also been targeted this week. We’re all working together to stop the hate, and we all deserve your respect and acknowledgment.
— Meredith Williams, Pullman