Submitted by Mallory Rothstein. Rothstein is a senior majoring in psychology,   one of the organizers for the Boobs & Bras event and the former Undergraduate Student Government Executive Vice President.

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Last week, I pitched a story to your News Editor surrounding the 40th Celebration of the LGBTA at Stony Brook University and she agreed that it would be a good event for The Statesman to cover. But when I attended the event last Sunday, I was disappointed that I didn’t see either a reporter or a photographer anywhere. When I messaged her asking why there was no one there, she said that she couldn’t get anyone to take the story.

Soon after, I saw on The Stateman’s Instagram account that there were three photographers who were attending Holi which was on the same day around the same time.

This made me extremely disappointed in The Statesman’s leadership.

I don’t understand how you as editors can allow three photographers to go to the same event yet not push for at least one photographer to attend the LGBTA celebration. How could you not get even a single photographer or reporter to the celebration?

The 40th Anniversary Celebration was a huge moment in history for the LGBTQ* community at Stony Brook University and one The Statesman should have prioritized. This was the first big celebration ever of the LGBTA. The two big co-sponsors were the Stony Brook Alumni Association and Library Mutual. They originally expected only around 50 people to come when around 95 people ended up attending! There were tons of undergraduate students, graduate students, alumni, faculty, and professional staff all proud to be part of, had been a part of, or just a huge supporter of the LGBTA.

Lucy Winer was the keynote speaker, a distinguished filmmaker and alumni from Stony Brook University. Throughout her talk she even showed everyone different clips from her films which were incredibly powerful. During the closing remarks there was even a huge announcement made about the future execution of a LGBT Center on campus is planned to be in the works within the next couple of years.

You missed a truly historic and newsworthy event.

This year the LGBTQ* Services moved from the Center of Prevention and Outreach (CPO) to the Division of Student Life. Stony Brook Athletics hosted two You Can Play (LGBT organization) nights at basketball games. The Transcending Gender Project visited campus. There was the 40th Anniversary Celebration of the LGBTA at Stony Brook University. And, these were just the major things.

Yet, The Statesman failed to cover any of them.

I strongly urge the editors and entire staff of The Statesman to see the importance of covering news and events that are related to the LGBTQ* community on campus. I understand you can’t cover everything but it is a special time for the LGBTQ* community and one that I feel The Statesman must prioritize and capture more so than it ever has before.

Stony Brook University will be hosting its first ever Lavender Graduation this year to celebrate and acknowledge the accomplishments of the students in the LGBTQ* community. This is the perfect opportunity to send one of your reporters and photographers to report on a historic moment for the LGBTQ* community at Stony Brook University.

I’ll definitely be there and I hope to see one of you there too. Thank you.