Members of LGBTQA student club have 8 minutes of silence

American River College club fierce held a celebration on campus to support love and the freedom to love. Supporters and interested bystanders promoted the cause for a view on equal rights from candidates a day before f the new ARC elections.

Fierce, the LGBTQA student organization for ARC, sought support from students to embrace diversity following controversy from the 2008-2009 year Associated Student Body decision to endorse Proposition 8.

Four years later, the club looked for a way to help students become aware of who they are voting for. This included urgency for the candidates to represent all views pertaining to the education of college students, not their opinions on civil right issues.

Kindra Pring, who created the club in 2011, thanked the support received from sections of the crowd in addition to all those involved.

“I think the event went fantastic”, said Pring. “We only had a few days to plan it, but we still managed to get so many people and their support”

The festivity also had eight minutes of silence to raise awareness about the elections, which was originally done back in 2009 to promote recognition about the tension on campus at the time. The original ARC event, which can be viewed on YouTube, drew loud protesters. This most recent event was held without any such protest.

The Current Fierce President, Brett Spencer, was happy with the turnout, and emphasized the objectives of the group.

“This event was about peace and love,” said Spencer. “We didn’t want to bring negativity. We want to show the campus that we can generate positive energy into the culture of our society. We do not want to be part of controversy.”

With the growing popularity being shown for online awareness events held on campus, Spencer predicted a bright future for the organization.

“I think the movement is presenting itself forward,” said Spencer. “We are at a time in history where people must ask themselves: What side of history do you want to be on?”