​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. 

From February 3 – 8, the Spectrum Center hosted the 2020 LGBTQ+ Health and Wellness Week. The week featured several events of different varieties. The events steered clear of the image of a cliché wellness week; there weren’t any workshops on how to make stress balls, or on the importance of self care without defining what that means beyond the surface-level. Instead, the organizers have realized the importance of acknowledging the wider stresses and trauma overlying the community, and the specificity of the issues for people of LGBTQ+ identities. Along with this comes an understanding of the necessity of activism against the overlying oppression on the community as a whole. These events did a great job balancing the amount of complexity that goes into health and wellness for people of LGBTQ+ identities while being interesting and supportive. 

 The 2020 presidential election is fast approaching. Depending upon when you are reading this. you might even be in the process of deciding who to support in the Michigan primary now. Whether voting, choosing a campaign to donate money to, or just considering which candidate to support in general, hopefully you want a someone who supports LGBT rights. Here, for your consideration, is a look into how the frontrunners have voted in regards to LGBT rights in the past.