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OGDEN — Weber State University announced it will offer a Queer Studies minor this fall, which will be a first in Utah.
The minor was created to help future professionals work better with diverse groups, and there is also hope that these courses will help more people understand others who may be different from them.
"The best place to start to understand is through education," said Sean Childers-Gray from Ogden Pride.
He said he has seen the intolerance and lost family along the way, and it meant a lot to him to hear Weber State is offering the new minor.
"It just means there are more opportunities for people to learn and become aware and to study the issues that LGBTQ+ people face," he said.
Childers-Gray is president of the board for Ogden Pride. He works with Thereasa Kay, who is also on the board.
"There are many ways in which things are getting better," Kay said.
She is also a professor in psychology who helped get the new minor approved. "This has become a growing passion of mine."
Kay experienced the impact of misunderstanding in her own life and through past students.
"I really became very aware of what the effects of discrimination and marginalization can have on people," Kay said. "So I've just become more passionate about wanting to help support and advocate for the community."
While there will still be a lot of people who don't understand, there is now one more way for those who want to learn how to work better with the LGBTQ+ community, and those around them.
"I think that it will open up others' eyes to see the possibilities of where it can go," Childers-Gray added.
The queer studies minor actually came out of the Women and Gender Studies program when professors realized there weren't enough opportunities to study LGBTQ+ issues without creating a separate class or program.
