Ncmc gay

GSA is also already in talks with students and professors to plan a similar celebration for the fall semester, which would focus specifically on highlighting queer voices—including songwriters, poets, and speakers—on the NCMC campus.

Keeping Pride Alive at Northwestern Michigan College

While GSA is still in its early days at NCMC, Traverse City’s Northwestern Michigan College has had a student Pride organization for years.

Even beyond that student group, NMC has grown over time into something of a hub for acceptance and inclusion in the community.

GSA worked with the college’s tech department to create a simple all-online workaround that makes it easier for trans and gender-nonconforming students to convey to professors and other faculty what they prefer to be called.

“Now, there’s literally just a button that you click [on the portal] when you log in,” Hammerle says.

That could mean adopting a different schedule, offering more mixers and social events on campus, promoting NMC Pride meetings to non-LGBTQ+ students as a place where they can learn to be better allies, or finding ways to partner with the NMC administration and the college’s DEIB Advisory Council to drive even more top-down efforts at making the campus a more accepting place.

One specific goal, Nguyen notes, is to expand NMC’s “clothing closet,” which works like a food pantry, but with the goal of offering professional clothing for students.

As a member of GALA (the Gay and Lesbian Association of Choruses), we also have available the music libraries of more than 190 affiliate ensembles worldwide.

Mission Statement

The North Coast Men’s Chorus activities and goals are now framed by the following mission statement:

The North Coast Men’s Chorus:

• Presents high quality musical entertainment for diverse audiences
• Promotes a positive influence within and beyond the LGBT community
• Provides a supportive environment for its members and participants

Values Statement

The following core values are important guiding principles for the North Coast Men’s Chorus and are at the center of its organizational practices and programs:

Advocacy

“We are proud of the elements of LGBT culture in our lives, value the importance of representing the gay experience in a positive way and provide opportunities to educate and enlighten within and beyond our community.”

Artistry

“We value variety in our music selections – music that challenges us and builds on our strengths, and performances that are entertaining and interesting for our audiences.”

Camaraderie

“We value friendship based on acceptance and mutual respect.

In response to increasing anti-LGBTQ+ legislation around the country, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC)—which describes itself as “the nation’s largest LGBTQ+ civil rights organization”—has declared a state of emergency for LGBTQ+ people in the U.S. for the first time in its 40-year history.

So how do Hammerle and Nguyen feel about safety and acceptance on campus for their groups?

Overall, Hammerle says the quick growth of GSA and the support from college faculty and administration have made her feel “100 percent safe” on the NCMC campus.

That trend is a common one for NMC student groups, he says: Activity and engagement in these groups largely fell off in March 2020 and, with a few exceptions, hasn’t fully recovered.

“As a result, we don’t actually have a lot of students who are actively participating [in NMC Pride] activities,” Nguyen admits.

“I think we only have a couple students who come to meetings regularly.”

Nguyen recalls how, prior to the pandemic, having an active NMC Pride group helped him feel “very supported” as a member of the LGBTQ+ community. The effort is spearheaded by Kaitlyn Hammerle, a sophomore at the Petoskey community college.

So, everyone has different experiences, and it’s our job to just keep moving things in the right direction.”