 "Photo: Department of Fine and Performing Arts/Alicia Ramirez")
More than 200 Chicago college students, including students from Loyola University, DePaul University, Northwestern University and Columbia College, formed a rainbow-colored flash mob outside the Art Institute Thursday night in support of the city’s LGBTQ community.
Queer Intercollegiate Alliance (QIA), which organized the event, assigned a specific color for students from each school. The QIA is a collaboration between students at colleges in Chicago. About 20 Loyola students dressed in red, marking the beginning of the rainbow band.
Loyola sophomore Alison Bates, an English major, took part in the rally to “support Loyola’s Advocate group and raise awareness.” Advocate is Loyola’s official LGBTQA student organization.
Freshman Emilie Stallman, a biology major, said that she participated because “It’s been one of my life goals to be part of a flash mob, and I believe in gay rights.”
The idea came from the group’s desire to be seen, according Joseph Marnen, an organizer for QIA and a sophomore from DePaul.
“We thought, ‘Let’s make our own modern art at the Art Institute,’ ” Marnen said.
QIA is organized by a dozen or so students through Facebook, and has more than 400 members. What began as a union between Loyola and DePaul students grew to include Northwestern, Columbia, University of Illinois Chicago, Roosevelt University and Northeastern Illinois University, according to Nick Lang, the main organizer.
Lang, a DePaul senior, said the group’s current mission is to “create a Chicago LGBTQ community.”
“I think there was a really big demand for this,” Lang said. “People wanted it. I think it’s been a long time coming.”
Like the majority of people at the event, Rachael McIntosh of the gay rights group Join the Impact Chicago heard about the event through Facebook. She saw it as a way to reach out to people with a similar vision.
“I think it’s fantastic to make a presence and let people see you, versus hiding out and advocating from behind closed doors,” McIntosh said.
Loyola freshman Kenneth Camacho, who is a psychology major, said one of the main reasons for his participation was “to meet other gay guys from other schools.”
After the flash mob, demonstrators went inside the Art Institute to socialize. Marnen said the group encourages fun, social activities because students need to feel a sense of camaraderie.
“You need to have people saying, ‘Oh! The QIA is going! I know them. I’ll go to that protest,’ ” Marnen said.
Roland Miranda, another QIA organizer and a Loyola senior, said a political movement isn’t the only goal.
“A lot of LGBTQ groups fall and fail when they start talking about political activism,” said Miranda, who is a biology major. “We hope to marry the [social and political aspects]… to give a good foundation to keep this thing going.”
Lang said that even if the group never becomes a strong political force, having social support is enough.
“Even if we’re not fighting for specific rights, I think that gives us a whole lot more power than we had, because at least we’re together now,” Lang said.
The first QIA event was a potluck followed by a movie held in Loyola’s Terry Student Center, due to its convenient location for students from other schools. Lang says the next meeting, possibly held in March, will focus on developing an official mission statement.
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