It's not cool to discriminate against people solely based on sexual orientation, according to members of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Affairs, who held a welcoming picnic Wednesday on Plaza of the Americas.
Nora Spencer, director of LGBT affairs, helped assemble the first LGBT welcoming picnic.
The purpose of the event was to openly welcome gays to the UF campus.
Spencer said about 150 people attended.
"We just wanted to have an event so people could congregate and just hang out," Spencer said.
LGBT Affairs was created to help make sure UF's policies are fair to gay students and employees and to raise awareness.
Although society today is better than it used to be, gays are still not welcome in some churches, Spencer said.
This isn't fair to those people because they can't be true to themselves, she added.
"Even here in Gainesville there are churches that are against gays," Spencer said. "But many accept them."
Spencer said she didn't think it was fair that they must pretend to be something they aren't to fit in with their peers.
That's why we hold events like this, she said, to help gays feel more comfortable at UF.
LGBT provides support for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning individuals.
Spencer said the word "queer," known by many as a derogatory term, is becoming more widely used and accepted by the gay community.
"Though the history of the word is negative, that's changing," she said. "You often hear of 'queer' music or 'queer' literature. It doesn't mean anything negative."
According to the American Heritage College Dictionary, the word means deviating from the expected or normal.
"It's intentionally obscure," Spencer said. "It offers pride and privacy at the same time."
She added that many people use the term because they don't necessarily consider themselves strictly gay or lesbian but rather something between.
The word "queer" can cover all types of relationships whether it's between two men, two women or a woman and a transsexual and vice versa, Spencer said.
"Gender is wild," she said. "Some people just don't want the label."
