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Junior strives to foster acceptance amidst discriminatory laws
► LARA KORTE
@lara_korte
TJ Blake grew up in a town that he said was not very accepting of the LGBTO+ population
In 2012, his hometown of Hutchinson voted against ordinances offering protection to members of the gay community.
"I came from a community where being gay or being bisexual or being trans was not accepted at all," Blake said.
Blake, a junior who identifies as bisexual, said coming to Lawrence was a perspective change.
"Coming to the college atmosphere, where you have a lot of people who are of a generation where gay rights is accepted, that changed a lot of it," he said. "So I think that's something in Lawrence that's pretty unique — that we have a generation of people that are beginning to realize that who you're with in a relationship does not define everything about you and even if it did, it's not something that we need to reject you as a person for."
The University is currently in the midst of Gaypril, a month-long celebration of the LGBTQ+ community put on by Spectrum KU. Blake, who has helped organize events in the past through his involvement with Student Union Activities, said he thinks Gaypril has always been a celebration of the fact that there are LGBTQ+ individuals in every facet of the University.
"It's creating opportunities for people that are identifying as part of the LGBTQ community," Blake said. "It is important to make sure that people realize there are members of this community throughout KU. So whether that's Greek life, that's student involvement, whether that's in your classroom, there are people across the University who experience the same type of situations that these individuals are experiencing, so it's universal."
Although Blake said he thinks Lawrence is a pretty liberal place,he said it's hard to escape the politics of Kansas.
Recent legislation in the Kansas Statehouse, such as Senate Bill 513 which would prohibit students from using a restroom that does not align with their biological sex, and Senate Bill 175, which allows religious groups to bar other students from their organization based on their beliefs, have received criticism for being discriminatory towards LGBTQ+ students.
"Our government has actively worked to make it more difficult for a person who identifies as LGBTQ to succeed within our University," Blake said.
However, Blake said that despite the government's attempts to intervene, the university has strong leaders who are always working to make sure students feel safe on campus. He said that while he thinks administrators do a good job of making the University an inclusive place, it's the everyday students who are responsible for creating an accepting environment.
"When you're looking at the LGBTQ movement, the real leaders are the people
Kailee Karr, a 2015 University graduate, worked with Blake in Student Union Activities. As far as leaders go, Karr said she thinks Blake is one of the best.
who are willing to listen, not just to people of their own identity, those that aren't just listening to gay rights or women's rights or that aren't just trying to push a specific agenda, but are instead looking at the ways in which our University and our politics and our social atmosphere continue to impact everyone." Blake said.
"TJ is definitely a leader on campus. Despite being one of the most professional students I knew,
LGBTQ community," Karr said. "He was involved in student life but he was also connecting his personal feelings and his personal beliefs to his work, which I think was really cool."
Karr is now in a master's program for higher education administration at the University of Tennessee. During her research on activism in the LGBTQ+ community, Karr said she found that kind of connection was the most important thing about students.
"The more that people are willing to talk about the issues, the more comfortable people feel reaching out to members of the community," Karr said. "I
think that's really where you see a strong community being built."
Social change is important to an accepting environment, Blake said, and that overall, he thinks the students at the University are more receptive to ideas of social change than other places around the state.
"And that's the way KU is different — it's not just the LGBTQ community that cares about gay rights and trans rights, it's everybody at the University," Blake said.
Blake has been involved in Gaypril during the past two years, and although he said he's not as involved this year, he hopes during his time at the University,
he has helped contribute to a more accepting environment for future students.
"The most rewarding part is looking back and realizing that you might make a difference for a future student, looking back and realizing that there might be a student that's in a very similar position that I am in right now, but might have it just a tiny bit easier just from a choice that I made in college," Blake said. "And I think that's a pretty rewarding thought."
- Edited by Matthew
Clough
TJ Blake junior
he also was able to connect to people and I think that's what made him such a great asset to the
TJ Blake, a junior from Hutchinson, has been involved in Gavpril the past two years.
Alex Robinson/KANSAN