The Queer Student Association held its annual State of the Queer Union on Tuesday in Lloyd Hall, featuring panelists who discussed queer issues such as when to speak up, finding the courage to exist openly as a queer person, and the dangers of conversion therapy and other anti-queer rhetoric.
QSA is an organization founded in 1983 that meets regularly on campus to provide a safe space for students within the LGBTQ+ community and their allies.
“Our goal is to provide a safe place for any students who are within the community or who are allies in the community to live freely,” said Joseph Walsh, vice president of QSA.
The QSA hosts this event annually as an open dialogue about issues that affect their community.
“I think it’s important because most of our events are predominantly community-based and more fun. However, I think, especially during this time, it’s important to acknowledge the political and social issues that affect us daily,” Walsh said.
This year’s panelists were students Mae Hudson and Isabella Garrison, and Barry Cole, an instructor in the Department of English.
Cole is an English professor at UA whose research explores literature, identity and social justice.
The address began with a speech by Cole, who spoke of the hope he sees in Alabama regarding the queer community’s future.
“The news cycles seem to unfold different obstacles for people almost every day,” he said. “I will speak to that as well as the fact that I believe there is hope.”
He also spoke of the vigilance needed by people within the community to preserve their safety.
“Thankfully such violence is far less prevalent today, but with new political realities appearing with alarming regularity we cannot afford to be less vigilant,” Cole said. “Across the country in 2025 alone, over 850 anti LGBTQ+ bills were introduced with more than 120 passed into law.”
Cole told multiple stories of friends of his and his husband’s that had been affected by what he called “threats to the community.”
“Project 2025, the national effort to roll back LGBTQ+ rights and many others, has sharpened these threats, introducing a new level of complexity and danger,” Cole said. “Sometimes the consequences are proven. My husband and I have witnessed the tragic aftermath of suicide, in which members of our community have sought the only exit they know from unrelenting trauma.”
Project 2025 is a political initiative that was put together by a group of conservatives and published by the Heritage Foundation. The project’s largest publication “Mandate for Leadership” lays out the blueprint for a conservative America.
Among these plans, the LGBTQ+ community is mentioned multiple times. The plan calls for the government to “reissue a stronger transgender national coverage determination” and for the “radical redefinition of sex.”
Project 2025 also called for government-wide elimination of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. A nationwide rollback of DEI measures has been seen in recent years.
Senate Bill 129, which was passed by the Alabama State Senate in 2024, prohibits public entities, like the University, from “maintaining diversity, equity, and inclusion offices” or from “promoting divisive topics.”
After the passing of the bill, the University permanently closed its Safe Zone which provided support and on-campus resources for queer students.
“They [the Alabama State Senate] silence conversations. They defund spaces. They discourage our faculty from encouraging marginalized students,” Hudson said. “Long term, they risk making campuses more hostile.”
Despite this, Cole said he still sees strength in the Tuscaloosa community.
“Beyond pride, we hold something even stronger: the power of truth, of solidarity, of what refuses to be disgraced,” Cole said. “Here at The University of Alabama, that power is alive every day. It lives in the courage of students who organize, speak out, and lift one another.”
Garrison is a doctoral candidate at the University and the project manager of one research project and the co-founder of an oral project that is dedicated to preserving southern queer history.
It was here at the University, as a student, that Garrison said she found her identity as not only a lesbian but as a Southern Chicano lesbian. She said she remembers finding a community among other queer people at the University.
“When I was first here at UA, there weren’t a ton of explicitly queer classes, but there were those few,” Garrison said. “I found a real haven and community in those spaces.”
After Cole’s opening speech, the floor was opened up to the panelists for an open dialogue about issues the community is facing.
They discussed why they felt that staying in Alabama and putting up a fight versus moving to a more diverse area was important, the connection between black history and queer history, and they encouraged students to just continue being themselves.
“We can’t exclude ourselves from these places when that’s what they want us to do,” Hudson said. “I think that’s a big part of being here, forcing ourselves to occupy these places when they want to silence us.”
The panelists ended the conversation by explaining what inspires them to keep fighting for the community in Tuscaloosa and to continue existing out and proud.
“I spent 22 years in IT in a cubicle farm as an insurance person. I think you can roll all of the experiences that I had there into one little ball, and it still would not make the difference that I have seen in a single day of teaching here,” Cole said. “That’s what motivates me.”
