Gay Sonâs Cause Lives On in UC Riverside Scholarship
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In dribs and drabs for the last decade, retired counselor Tranquil Calley has put money away in memory of her son Kalyn.
But it wasnât until she heard about a UC Riverside senior who is gay and could no longer afford to pay for school that she knew what sheâd do with her modest savings.
In December, Calley established a fund in her sonâs name to help homosexual students in need at UC Riverside.
âThis is exactly what he would want,â she said of her son, who died of AIDS complications in 1994. âIt would be a tragedy for these students to have to drop out.â
Kalyn Smith-Tranquilâson, whose name was Colin Smith before he changed it to honor his mother, was the victim of physical gay-bashing twice while attending the university. Instead of withdrawing, he became an activist and fought for gay rights on campus.
Almost 20 years after he attended UC Riverside, the campus is more tolerant, and his motherâs gesture serves as an extension of what Smith-Tranquilâson fought for.
The first beneficiary of the Kalyn Smith-Tranquilâson Memorial Fund scholarship is Janean Hinrichs, who found herself short on money last quarter and was on the verge of quitting school. She said she couldnât go to her parents because they had stopped financially supporting her three years ago when she told them she is a lesbian. It was a decision based on their religious beliefs.
âI was thinking, âOh no, the worldâs going to end and Iâm going to have to drop out of school,â â said the 20-year-old senior.
Calley, a Moreno Valley resident, had told the schoolâs Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Resource Center that she wanted to help gay students, so when Hinrichs asked center director Nancy Tubbs for help, Calley was contacted and the scholarship was born.
Calley remembers how angry and disappointed she felt when Kalyn told her he was gay. She cried for three weeks. She was angry and blamed gays for âcorruptingâ him.
Reading the book âLoving Someone Gayâ helped her understand that her son was the same person she knew.
âI can only hope that in time, like me, other parents will grow up,â she said.
At UC Riverside, Smith-Tranquilâson was openly gay, but not particularly political until he was beaten by at least three members of the universityâs baseball team in 1981. The students were ordered to attend sensitivity classes.
Smith-Tranquilâson and about 40 students began pressuring the administration to foster more campus tolerance.
A few months later, Smith-Tranquilâson was pushed to the ground and threatened by an unknown male on campus.
The incidents, Calley said, were an awakening for her son and the whole campus.
After Smith-Tranquilâson died Sept. 18, 1994, Calley wore black and grieved for months, and then realized she âneeded to do something to say he contributed to this world.â
Soon afterward, she began putting away money, at first not really knowing what it would become. Ten years later, she launched the fund.
Said a grateful Hinrichs: âTo come out and then try to do it all on your own, itâs very hard for students to keep their heads above water.â
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