Safe Space

I did Safe Space training today. It's the first time our campus has had Safe Space training, and I'm a little excited that we had it. But also a little weirded out by some of the comments. I know, however, that I probably sound as stupid at diversity ally training.

Safe Space training is training to support GLBTQ community members and allies in hopes of changing campus communities for the better. (I think they mostly work through educational institutions, but maybe other communities, too?)

So I changed one of my old rainbow stickers in the door window for the new "Safe Space at NWU" one. So now I have a rainbow sticker that still has stickiness (since I had it in the inside of the window looking out, so to speak). My office door proclaims, as it were, that I've at least had the training, and so should be an ally. I'll get a "certificate of completion," too; the idea of a certificate of completion seems a bit meaningless, because you could sit through the training without actually learning anything. But the rainbow sticker seems more positive, somehow.

I thought about putting the old rainbow sticker on my car.

During the training, we were asked to think about our biases. One of my biases is that I think my car is going to be trashed or I'm going to be beaten up in a parking lot somewhere for having a rainbow sticker on it. It's not that I think that everyone in the upper midwest is hateful and violent, but all it takes is one person, and I'm a whuss. On the other hand, my Darwin fish doesn't seem to have provoked anything more than the occasional smile.

My campus window feels pretty safe; even the jerks on campus tend to limit their jerkitude. But off campus doesn't feel safe for a rainbow sticker.

What do you think? Sticker on the car with my Darwin fish and Flying Spaghetti Monster thingy?