Cynthia Squiabro-Kee, a graduate student at Our Lady of Lake University, had a vision. It’s been two years in the making, but it’s been satisfying for her to finally see it realized. The story of how she organized the Gay/Straight Alliance at OLLU began in one of her social work classes.

As she pursued her coursework, Squiabro-Kee read about heterosexism and homophobia, and what she learned gave her a new level of awareness of the plight of Gay Lesbian Bisexual and Transgender people in today’s world.

“I found out a lot about myself,” she says.

It was this self-realization that lead Squiabro-Kee, an older heterosexual woman, to reach out to a generation of young homosexual people by starting a Gay/Straight Alliance at OLLU, a privately funded, religious institution.

“At first, I didn’t know how to start. Being that this was a Catholic university. I did my homework. I had a lot of faculty members guiding me along the way,” she says.

Squiabro-Kee partnered up with fellow student, Martin Trevino who notified the San Antonio Express-News about the plan to start the alliance. It made headlines, which surprisingly resulted in little to no backlash at the university.

Squiabro-Kee initially feared that the Archdiocese of San Antonio would try to shut down her work-in-progress. Quite the contrary, she explains, people were advocating for her to “Please go on.” Among those encouraging voices were some of the nuns from the university’s Sisters of the Congregation of Divine Providence.

As months passed, things began to fall into place. Squiabro-Kee worked diligently to get the green light for the alliance to be officially recognized by the university.

“We didn’t want to hide, and have it be some sort of alternative group. We wanted to have a voice in the student government, and do it the right way,” she adds.

“Certain university officials were displeased with the idea of having a ‘gay group’ on campus. Some said the political climate wasn’t right for a gay organization at this time,” Squiabro-Kee recounts.

Vice President of Student Life Jack Hank disagrees.

“While there may be negative reaction in some quarters, the very potential of such reaction makes clear the need for the educational and support activities for which the organization has been formed,” said Hank.

“The Catholic bishops stated that all of us must strive to eliminate any forms of injustice against (homosexuals). It is not sufficient only to avoid unjust discrimination. Homosexual persons must be accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity,” he added.

Last May, that fight was over. The alliance received the go-ahead.

“The Alliance has a stated goal to promote inclusiveness and reinforce spiritual foundations for every individual. In following the (Catholic) teachings, recognized student organization status was granted to the Alliance,” Hank added.

The next step was finding a faculty member to serve as an advisor.

“The Alliance invited me to serve as advisor and I agreed because I want to assist its members to continue to make the OLLU campus a welcoming community for all. The formation of the Alliance is fully consistent with the teachings of the Catholic Church,” said Dr. Oswald Nira, instructor for religious studies.

With this new school year, the Gay/Straight Alliance moves into an organizational phase.

“This is very much a developmental year,” says Nira. “The question is: Where does the alliance go from here?”

The group has finally filled the six leadership positions it needed, with Melissa Gonzalez serving as president.

“We need goals to get a direction, and we need to think of strategies,” says Nira.