As the winds change and apple picking season approaches, so does Queer Awareness Month, a monthlong celebration of queer pride and history in October sponsored by Columbia's undergraduate queer student organizations. The month isn't a Columbia construct, though. First celebrated in 1995, QuAM (originally named LGBT History Month) is one of many nationally recognized heritage months. The date of the month's main event-National Coming Out Day, Oct. 11th-commemorates the first LGBT march on Washington in 1979. At Columbia, QuAM festivities include mixers, walking tours, panel discussions, guest speakers, and general rainbow-tinted enthusiasm.

Sadly, I'm sure most of you out there-gay, straight, or other-are asking, "So what?" As long as I've been at Columbia, undergraduate queer groups have struggled with questions of their utility. At times, it seems doubtful that there is any need for additional support for queer students when Columbia is located in the middle of one of the most gay-welcoming cities in the country. Though New York has much to offer, this appraisal of our queer organizations and queer activism is premature and superficial.

Almost every queer-identifying person on campus has an infamous "freshman roommate story." It is in these terribly funny yet painful anecdotes that I think the ever-present need for queer awareness is most obvious. My story is somewhat atypical in that I never spent a night in the same room with my assigned roommate. The fact that I was gay was a deal-breaker for my roommate-to-be, so there was a last minute switch and my first experience with the Columbia student body was of one of my peers rejecting me based on my sexual orientation. No student organization can control the whims of a skittish incoming freshman, but programs like QuAM that are aimed to increase everyone's understanding of queer issues can do their best to make sure that queer students never again feel unwelcome on their campus and that others don't unwittingly foster intolerance.

Unfortunately, this mission failed last year. Beginning shortly before exam week last December, there were six homophobic, racist, and anti-Semitic vandalism incidents in Columbia's residence halls and public spaces. Students formed the group Stop Hate on Columbia's Campus in response, and charges were eventually brought against some of the students involved, but in the end we did frightfully little to address the attitudes that spurred these incidents. We can't allow Columbia to be a place that feels like it only pays lip service to diversity, a place that may very well not feel like a safe space for many queer students.

That's why this upcoming October is more important than ever. The best way to address the issue of homophobia at Columbia is through a good ol' rainbow-themed month of dialogue. To kick off the month, Columbia's queer groups co-sponsored a huge opening night party on Saturday at Amsterdam Cafe. The QuAM Opening Reception will be Tuesday, October 2nd, at 6 p.m. in the Lerner Party Space and will feature Keith Boykin (co-host of the BET J series My Two Cents and co-author of Beyond the Down Low: Sex, Lies and Denial in Black America) as the keynote speaker. Later in the month we will hold an event with guest speaker Helen Boyd, a queer identities panel, a National Coming Out Day celebration on Low Plaza, a tour of the West Village, a discussion of bisexuality, and more. Allies will be on the Low Steps on Monday passing out calendars of the month's events. It cannot be said enough that these are not just events put on by queer people for queer people. They are for all allies-anyone who supports equal rights, who wants to learn more, or just likes to have a good time.

The best thing that QuAM could do this year is strengthen the connection between the queer community and the other members of the student body. When everyone is an ally, when there is a sense of loyalty, of protectiveness of the rights of Columbia's queer students, that is when we may not need specific queer groups-we as a community will be one group united to protect every minority's interests. But folks, we're not there yet, so come out and "Taste the Rainbow" this October.