The COVID-19 pandemic has turned everyone’s life upside down, but it is hitting previously-marginalized communities especially hard. Across the United States, coronavirus is making our country’s shortcomings more visible. Gaps in healthcare infrastructure, which have long existed, have been brought to the forefront of the nation’s consciousness, as more and more people die from the unavailability of COVID-19 treatment. ​

​In early January of the new decade, two ambitious students embarked on a journey that would hopefully change this campus forever. We, Tyler Kramer (2022) and Conner Chinavare (2023),  decided that they would start the University of Michigan’s first gay fraternity. We both wanted a place in Greek life where we (and others like us) felt welcome and safe, and we believed this to be the best way. Although the group is still in its beginning interest group phase, we hope to achieve the title of Provisional Chapter by April 2020.

Even on a LGBTQ+ friendly campus in Ann Arbor that has many queer students and some gay organizations, there’s nothing quite like being in a building with hundreds of queer students from all over the Midwest and beyond. MBLGTACC is the annual student-run Midwest Bisexual, Lesbian, Gay, Trans, Ally College Conference hosted at various colleges around the Midwest. I attended MBLGTACC 2020 at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, MI with the Spectrum Center and a group of 15 other delegates. Conferences are exciting, and I highly recommend MBLGTACC as means to educate yourself about queer communities that you are not a part of and to connect with those that share some or all of your identities, but I think it is important to discuss mental health and accessibility while in a conference and/or queer conference environment.