In order to achieve our goals and support our mission and vision, Equal recognizes a number of responsibilities to its members and the UCF community. Our responsibilities as an organization including creating a community where gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer (GLBTQ) students and their allies can feel welcome; including all individuals in our events and meetings, recognizing that the GLBTQ community is one of the most diverse minorities in the world; supporting individuals through the many challenges faced by the GLBTQ community; educating the UCF and Central Florida communities about issues that affect the GLBTQ community, and educating members about the various aspects of GLBTQ life; and advocating for the equal treatment of all individuals regardless of their actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.

Community

All too often, GLBTQ individuals are the targets of both homophobic actions and remarks and heterosexist prejudice. Our organization recognizes the responsibility to create a community for GLBTQ students and their allies to interact and grow, a safe space where individuals, regardless of their sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender presentation, or their degree of outness, can be open about themselves without fear of harassment or discrimination.Equal  is always working with other organizations to extend its community and offer new opportunities to its members. We work with UCF's GLBT Alumni Chapter, the Allies Program, and the Knight Allies student group.

Inclusion

The GLBTQ community is one of the diverse groups in the world, because a person of any ethnicity, religion, gender, or income level can identify as GLBTQ. Likewise, anyone, even if they are GLBTQ, can identify as an ally. As an organization, we strive to respect the individual diversity of everyone. We regularly work with the Multicultural Student Center and the Office of Diversity Initiatives to understand and fight all forms of discrimination, not just sexual, and to promote tolerance towards all individuals.

Support

A study done by Columbia University in 2004 and 2005 suggests that over a quarter of people who identify as gay, lesbian, or bisexual ages 18-29 are likely to have a major depression disorder, and nearly one in ten will make a serious suicide attempt.1 It's a fact that GLBTQ individuals face many unique challenges in their personal and professional lives. We recognize the need to support individuals in need, and so we provide a number of resources about coming out and facing discrimination. In addition, many Equal officers are trained allies and are always willing to lend an ear.

Education

Education is paramount to our success. We recognize the responsibility to educate not only the community at large, but also our members. Many times in our society, stereotypes and prejudice are driven simply by a lack of knowledge and understanding, and so we work with other organizations, fraternities and sororities, and classes to help people understand GLBTQ individuals and the challenges that they face. Our members regularly act as panelists for the UCF Allies Program training sessions to provide a face and a name to sexuality and gender issues. We also recognize a responsibility to educate our members about how to respond to heterosexism and homophobia and how to reach out to others, as well as important life lessons, such as conflict resolution or safer-sex practices. Nearly everything Equal does includes some form of education.

Advocacy

Finally, Equal recognizes that, in order to achieve its vision, it must be an advocate for the interests of GLBTQ students and their allies. Our organization was instrumental in getting protections for sexual orientation added to the Golden Rule, and we partnered with Equality Florida to work against the passage of Florida's Marriage Protection Amendment (Amendment 2, 2008 General Election).

Sources: 1 Meyer, I.H., Dietrich, J. & Schwartz, S. (2008). Lifetime prevalence of mental disorders and suicide attempts in diverse lesbian, gay, and bisexual populations. American Journal of Public Health, 98(6), 1004-1006.