Georgia Southern students protest termination of LGBTQ program

Ellen Murphy, a representative for the Georgia Southern University students, reads a list of demands in protest the institution abruptly discontinuing programs designed to lessen discrimination against LGBTQIA+ people. April 29, 2024, in Statesboro, Georgia. (Justin Taylor/The Current)

Students and faculty members at Georgia Southern University’s main campus held a sit-in rally on Monday to protest the termination of a program aimed at reducing discrimination against LGBTQIA+ people.

“By treating LGBTQIA+ services with a Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, you only harm queer students and the campus at large,” said a statement distributed by some of the roughly 200 protesters and supporters at GSU’s Russell Union.

The protests in Statesboro and at the university’s Armstrong campus in Savannah follow last week’s announcement by the university’s president, Kyle Marrero, that a program called Safe Space would be discontinued because it no longer conformed with state education policy.