Liviana Rodriguez, a freshman fine arts major, said she remembers being seven years old, throwing pennies into wishing fountains, wishing she could be the gender she felt she was on the inside. She began her transition from male to female during high school, and said she faced discrimination.
“I heard slurs all the time,” she said. “I heard ‘tranny’ and was referred to as my old name, and people purposefully used ‘he,’ and that felt really bad. I always felt really alone, especially in my high school.”
Since arriving at UNM Rodriguez has been an advocate for the LGBTQ community on campus. She said being exposed to such an accepting environment led her to become a member of the Queer-Straight Alliance.
“I just wanted to get involved and be a better supporter,” she said. “In high school I had a lot of suicidal thoughts. I remember feeling so bad, and that no one was there for me. I really wanted to become that person for other people who may have felt like that.”
Rodriguez said helping others through that struggle was her main motivation for becoming active in the LGBTQ community on campus. She is not only a member of the QSA, but she also lives in the Gender Neutral and Allies Living-Learning Community in Laguna Hall. LLCs are designated areas in residence halls where people with similar interests can all choose to live.
“It has been the time of my life — we are all very involved in the LGBT community. My (community development assistant) puts on events once a month that directly involve LGBT people,” Rodriguez said. “We do a lot of community building. I have become such good friends with everyone up there.”
Rodriguez said her involvement in the QSA and her position as Community Association Vice President in Laguna, as well as support from her Community Development Assistant James Walker, has really encouraged her to become more of a leader.
Through her outreach and activism work, Rodriguez has already managed to leave lasting effects on a fellow student.
“Liviana was the first friend I made here at UNM, the first person who I came out to, and the first person who truly accepted me as a girl,” said Kelsey Smith, another resident in the Gender Neutral and Allies LLC. “She has been monumentally helpful in realizing and becoming who I am.”
Rodriguez also became the vice president of her community association in Laguna Hall, the group that organizes residence hall events. The first program she planned and set up was an event called Speed Friending, which gave students a chance to get to know each other. She hosted it on Valentine’s Day, and said the event had a turnout of more than 60 people.
“I know a lot of people can feel really excluded on Valentine’s Day — I knew a lot of people would feel sad,” Rodriguez said. “It’s also a really heteronormative day: virtually everywhere, it’s always a straight couple representing Valentine’s Day and other types of love aren’t really seen.”
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Rodriguez said she has felt very welcome at UNM, and feels the administration is very supportive of the LGBTQ community on campus.
“Being here on campus and being part of the Gender Neutral and Allies LLC has made me feel so welcome and so much better in my own identity,” she said.
UNM was recently recognized as among the top 30 schools for LGBTQ students by BestColleges.com, based on the resources, policies and student groups the University offers.
Rodriguez plans to stay involved in the LGBTQ community. She said she is glad there are a few gender-neutral bathrooms on campus, but she would like to see more.
“I’d also like to bring light to not only LGBT issues, but also suicide awareness, because those two can really go hand-in-hand, unfortunately,” she said.
Cara Grasso is a freelance reporter at the Daily Lobo. She can be contacted at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @DailyLobo.
