A member of the Anne Arundel County Board of Education and an AACC faculty member told students on Thursday that young voters should advocate for LGBTQ rights in the upcoming elections.

Approximately  20 people attended the Politics & Queer Rights to learn about LGBTQ rights and the history of queer politics.

Members of the LGBTQ community “don’t always actually want to be a political issue, but sadly, we are,’” academic literacies professor Forrest Caskey said. “So I just wanted people to know what different political parties are saying about LGBTQ+ people, and what the importance of local elections is for LGBTQ+ rights.”

Board member Joanna Bache Tobin, District 6, agreed, saying it’s difficult to listen to some political speeches and “hear that hate just pouring over you. … It can be a huge strain when you’re standing there and you’re testifying, or you’re just sitting to [have] a presence for others to see the support there.”

The Politics & Queer Rights event was the fourth and final event for the campus’s Coming Out Week. 

Caskey called the event  “good” and “informative.”

Ellie Jasen, a sixth-year mechatronics student, agreed.

Jasen, AACC’s Gender and Sexualities Alliance president, added: “I personally liked the overview of the recent strides we made towards … queer rights.”