I was delighted to see ICView raising awareness about the experience of being gay at Ithaca. As someone who continues to advocate for LGBT college students through my work, I know there is still a great need for support and community education.

Although I was not the first of IC's openly gay student body presidents, I was actually surprised there was no backlash to my election. IC is deserving of the designation "LGBT-friendly," but I worry that because of this people think the problem is solved. It's not. Queer students at IC still face a lot of challenges. The article neglected to mention the many years the rainbow flag was stolen at the 2004 Erase the Hate rally. There is no such thing as "good enough."

Supporting our LGBT community members is a constant effort that depends on the cooperation and efforts of the entire IC community, including all alumni. We're lucky to have a passionate advocate like LGBT center director Lis Maurer coordinating this effort.

I applaud ICView for bringing attention to this unique student experience, and I hope we can all continue to advocate together for our queer students, faculty, staff, and alumni.

Zack Ford '07
Newport, Pennsylvania