Ethan Sullivan, Del Mar College student and president of Safe Space Club, comes from a split world. In one he feels he can truly be himself, while in the other there are certain limitations.
“I come from a more conservative and reserved family who don’t necessarily agree with what I’m doing,” Sullivan said, referring to his involvement in the LGBTQ+ community.
According to him, while he’s pretty much always had that accepting community at school, some of his family members aren’t so understanding. There’s a brief moment of hesitation in his voice as he lays out his unspoken truth.
“It’s so strange and heartbreaking, because growing up I was always encouraged to talk about what I want, to express my feelings, to put them out there to the world,” Sullivan said. “But then being faced with opposition by my family about something that’s so crucial to my identity is incredibly crushing.”
This is why it’s so important to have the community the Safe Space Club provides at Del Mar College, as Sullivan puts it.
“It’s a space of freedom, it’s a space of acceptance, it’s a space of humanity. It’s a space that you can go to and it doesn’t matter where you’re from,” he said.
Like Sullivan, these students are caught between a split world.
“I’ve had students tell me that they can’t be themselves at home, that they have to stay in their rooms all day every day because their families just don’t support them.”
“But when they come to school, they have a space to feel comfortable and safe,” he said.
Club member Chloe Grant is no exception to this very statement.
“It’s the first time in my life I’ve ever had a club that really is something important to me, as in it impacts my daily life,” she said. “I’ve never had a space before where I was allowed to be openly queer because it just wasn’t as celebrated.”
According to both, the Safe Space Club provides an accepting community that many students might not receive at home, and are sure to be all inclusive as well.
“We don’t only celebrate queer students, we also celebrate diversity like people of color, disabilities, etc. We just celebrate everything that isn’t necessarily societally considered the norm,” Grant said.
The club usually meets on the second Saturday of every month in the breezeway underneath General Academic Building C.
They also participate in all sorts of events throughout the year, their most recent being their participation in the local Pride Parade.
The club keeps all its members best interests in mind, according to Grant.
“If it is important to you to be anonymous but also have that space, we can definitely compromise,” Grant said.
For more information on the club, join their Facebook page, “Del Mar Safe Space,” or email Sullivan at esullivan6@delmar.edu.
