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'We exist and we are just as important as everybody else' | Students discuss what it is like to be Black and LGBTQ+ at UT

Students at the University of Tennessee shared some of the challenges the campus has but also what they'd like to see the community do to change it.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Dom Green wanted to see a space at the University of Tennessee for students who identify as black and LGBTQ so they hosted a panel at UT's Student Union.

"A lot of time we don't get heard in the black community or the LGBTQ+ community so I wanted to support the people who fall in that intersection," Green said. 

Green adds a big part of the conversation is pushing the community to be actively inclusive but also to recognize how students can feel on campus.

"I can speak from my experience a lot of times you don't feel safe a lot of times," they said. 

For Green and many others that can mean hearing about other students' experiences or even sharing their own, which can be a tough but necessary conversation.

"We hear stuff about slurs and stuff on the rock and so if these people can do this and not get repercussions it feels like they are welcomed on this campus as well but you can't have both," they said. 

For that reason Green wants students in every group, background, intersection and identity to make their voices heard.

"The school can do better by just talking to us because a lot of times our voices go unheard," they said. "We can scream scream scream but if no one is listening it is not really getting out there."

If there is anything people take away from the panel and what student's were able to share, Green wants them to know this.

"I want them to know that we are here, this intersection exists and that we should be just as important as everybody else, we should be heard just like everybody else and we should get not only a seat at the table but the whole table," Green said. 

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