Thomas Attebery
Staff Writer
Debbie Glenn, a member of “Mama Dragons,” is coming to ISU to talk about her involvement with the group. Mama Dragons is an organization for LDS mothers of LGBTQ children who want to engage in efforts to support their children.
Debbie Glenn is well known for her role in the group partly because of her son Tyler Glenn’s musical career.
Tyler Glenn is the lead singer of the band Neon Trees, which has been profiled in the Rolling Stone.
He came out as gay in the Rolling Stone article, in which he said he had known he is gay since he was six years old and had been in the closet for decades.
Getting Debbie Glenn to come to ISU has been a joint effort between the Trinity Episcopal Church and ISU’s Gender Diversity Resource Center.
“I work at ISU as well, and some other members of the committee do too, so it made a lot of sense with the overlap between those two communities.” said Elise Barker, chair of Trinity Church’s LGBTQ action committee.
According to Stephanie Richardson, assistant director of the Gender Diversity Resource Center, Debbie Glenn’s visit was planned to hopefully be relevant and helpful to students.
“We do education and programming throughout the year on topics that have to do with gender and sexuality, and we try to cover anything that is relevant and is affecting students and our campus community,” Richardson said.
Debbie Glenn’s visit has been expedited by the fact that Diana Livingston Friedly, an ISU professor of music, is a relative of Glenn’s.
“Dianna is a member of our LGBTQ committee, and she is related to Debbie. Last year, we did a number of film screenings on LGBTQ topics, and this year I wanted to something similar, but with just one event I could focus all my energy on, and we ended up partnering up with the Gender Resource Center at ISU,” Barker said.
“We’ve brought several different types of speakers, and when I was contacted by the Episcopal church about Debbie Glenn, I thought she would be a good fit to come and speak since we have such a large LDS community on campus,” Richardson said.
“Just to have her come and give her insight about what it’s like being LDS and having a gay son. I also thought it was important as her son is a well-known musician. When I brought up his name, several students recognized him. So it’s relatable to college students, and it’s also important to get a parent’s perspective.”
Debbie Glenn will be speaking Feb. 16 from 4 to 6 p.m. in the Pond Student Union Building’s Wood River Room.
Part of this time will be used for presentations by other Mama Dragons from Idaho and a question and answer session.
The talk will be telecast to Idaho Falls and Boise campuses.
“I just think it’s really good to get a perspective of someone who’s LDS and a mother of someone in the LGBT community, since we’re a smaller campus,” Richardson said. “It’s good not only for the LGBT community, but also for everyone else on campus to educate them about what’s going on out in the world.”
Yes it is open to the public.
Is this event open to the public as well? Perhaps even to some students from BYU-Idaho?