A strive for more gay awareness

University and other organizations are making efforts to increase communication between the school's gay and lesbian population and the student body at large.

The campus overall is open to lesbian and gay students but there are still some instances of homophobia, said Anne Howard, president of the Ally Alliance.

There has not been a hate crime at the university in two years, but there are many unreported cases of hate speech, said Aita Romain, the executive director of the Gay Lesbian Bi Transgender Assembly.

Romain said that the campus is not homophobic, but that students often stay in their comfort zone rather than explore the other communities on the campus.

"The quest to look into the other side is not the focus of this campus," Romain said.

She encourages students "to feel uncomfortable, to feel like they're the minority, in a group that is typically the minority."

"It's important for people to reach out to people they don't understand," Romain said.

Michael Vacha, a member of the GLBTA executive board, also said that the campus is generally accepting of the GLBT population.

"I feel like on a normal basis, when we're at school and it's in the daytime, that a lot of people feel like they're just going to be respectful, and they don't say anything," Vacha said.

"But I know that sometimes on weekends and party nights when I'm obviously in a gay crowd, that sometimes I will hear comments from people, just passing by, you know, just rude or directed to homosexuality. And I feel like it's something that only comes out in that basis."

Some students from out of state said that the move to Los Angeles was their first exposure to the lesbian and gay population.

"It definitely changed me," said Kevin Rhedin, a sophomore majoring in political science. "Before, back in high school, I'd be insensitive, just because never having been exposed to it."

"I feel that they stereotype every conservative, but nobody fits perfectly in the package," said Rhedin, who is from Illinois. "It makes me want to tell them that not everyone conservative is against gay rights."

Permitting gay marriage would allow various combinations of people and objects to get married on the basis that they love each other, Hu said as to why he is against gay marriage, in addition to his Christian beliefs.

"There's no moral or logical connection between believing homosexuality is immoral and gay bashing," Hu said.

While the center follows the same policy of the official Catholic Church of prohibiting gay marriage, the center believes that the rights of the gay population should not be infringed upon, said Father Bill Messenger, director of the USC Catholic Center.

Both supporters of gay rights and the opposition agree that the two differing viewpoints can co-exist as long as both sides are rational in presenting their opinions.

"It makes a difference for me to hear (the opposition's) reasoning," Romain said.

But there is not much of a connection between GLBTA and Christian and conservative groups on campus, Howard said.

"I think that (conservative groups) have a reputation that might not be deserved," Howard said. "To my knowledge, they've never been invited to a GLBTA event, and we're seeking to change that. I think that people just assume that all the Christian groups and most conservative groups are homophobic or discriminatory and that may not be the case."

The ally programs were founded in order to create a united university community.

But that does not necessarily mean that everyone should share the same beliefs regarding sexuality, Howard said.

"I think that people are entitled to have separate opinions, but I think that we can all come together and agree that people deserve to be treated fairly and to be given equal consideration and to be treated with respect," Howard said.

The student version of the Ally Alliance was established this year. There is also an Ally Alliance focused on faculty.

Ally Alliance acts as a liaison between the LGBT community and the student body at large, Howard said.

Programs such as the LGBT mixer and retreat seek to bring the two communities together and train students about the different types of sexuality, Howard said.

The faculty ally program also serves a similar purpose. Faculty members that support the LGBT community have LGBT "safe zone" stickers on their office doors.

These faculty members are knowledgeable of campus LGBT resources and are able to direct students who have questions to these resources, Vacha said.

Other programs also exist to try and increase awareness of the gay and lesbian population on campus.

GLBTA provides support for the homosexual student population and resources for students on the different types of sexual orientation, Vacha said.

Gender and Sexuality Week is a mix of programs for students lasting from Jan. 24 until Feb. 4.

Some of the events include a speech by Larry Flynt on freedom of speech, lectures on today's sexuality issues and a trip to Tigerheat, a gay club. The program is in its sixth year.

"For us it's mainly about tolerance, number one, and two just educating students and lots of other people about sexuality and relationships and politics, like gay marriage," said Garrett Thompson, resident coordinator of graduate, upperclassmen and family housing,

While the programs during the week are intended to promote tolerance, they also welcome dialogue from students who might have more conservative views about sexual orientation.

Some students said they disapprove of the use of student funds going toward programs such as the trip to the Hustler Super Store, which is part of the Gender and Sexuality Week.

Thompson recognizes that tension will always remain between two opposing viewpoints, but said that "whether you disagree or agree shouldn't determine whether there is programming like this or not."

Vacha believes that such programming provides needs to specific groups of students.

"I feel like this university should be diverse and I wouldn't say that using a program used for some type of Christian organization to come out on campus and to have an event where they are doing something promoting their own goals is wrong because they provide needs to certain students," Vacha said.

"In a way ... the LGBT programming administers to LGBT students. It lets them be able to be able to be comfortable on this campus and to gain their own voice in their own community. It's a great thing. And I think everything should be equal on both sides," he said.

Oh, MAN!

University and other organizations are making efforts to increase communication between the school's gay and lesbian population and the student body at large.

I thought that was the problem - or don't they mean communication such as "Stay in the closet, homos?"

The campus overall is open to lesbian and gay students but there are still some instances of homophobia, said Anne Howard, president of the Ally Alliance.

Anne, baby, we aren't afraid of them. We just don't want to know about their perverted sexual practices. We don't even mind that they do them (well, not much) but they can keep it to themselves the way the rest of the civilized world does.

There has not been a hate crime at the university in two years, but there are many unreported cases of hate speech, said Aita Romain, the executive director of the Gay Lesbian Bi Transgender Assembly.

And we know about them because they aren't being reported, so you can trust us.

Romain said that the campus is not homophobic, but that students often stay in their comfort zone rather than explore the other communities on the campus.

Mostly because if you stay in your comfort zone you don't get unnatural things shoved in your anus.

"It's important for people to reach out to people they don't understand," Romain said.

Honey, the reason we're not reaching out to them is because we DO understand them.

Oh, well, response snipped to avoid a supersized post.

Shalom.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-ppuf30jan30,0,354392.story?coll=sfla-news-palm

UF adds officer for gay issues

Full-time position first of its type in Florida, rare across nation

By Jennifer Peltz
Staff Writer
Posted January 30 2005

In an apparent first for Florida, the University of Florida recently hired a full-time advocate for gay students, faculty and staff.

The job is hardly common in academia, even rarer in the South. And it illustrates a long arc of cultural change at Florida's flagship public university, once the center of a state-sponsored effort to drive gay professors and students off college campuses.

Only about 100 of America's 4,200 colleges and universities have paid staffers dedicated to handling sexual orientation issues, according to a professional group called the National Consortium of Directors of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Resources in Higher Education. The institutions range from giant Ohio State University to the Community College of Denver, including only a few Southern universities and no others in Florida.

UF's administration sees its new Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Affairs as a distinction. The appointment of director Tamara Cohen was spotlighted in an alumni office e-mail newsletter last month -- above pregame plans for the Peach Bowl, no less.

"It's a very important step in the right direction," said Patricia Telles-Irvin, vice president for student affairs. "It speaks to our desire to be inclusive."

`Hostile' environment

For universities, inclusiveness can be a matter of competitiveness, not just compassion. UF has lost at least one professor, one high-ranking student and two administrators to institutions they saw as more gay-friendly, according to a report to the faculty senate in 2000.

UF has gay student and staff groups, a counseling center that expressly offers "a supportive environment" for gay students and academic programs that explore concepts of sexual identity. But a 2003 report found nonetheless "that UF's environment can be negative, if not hostile" for gay students. Last year, the university agreed to increase its anti-discrimination training in order to settle a lawsuit filed by a student who said she was kicked off the softball team because she was a lesbian.

The university also is acutely conscious of a history far more hostile. In the shadow of McCarthyism, UF became the first collegiate target of the Johns Committee, a state Senate panel that trained its sights on homosexuality in the name of policing subversion.

Starting in 1958, investigators pulled professors and students out of classes and exams for questioning. They opened mail and planted roommates to gather information, according to Allyson Beutke, a producer of Behind Closed Doors, a 1999 documentary on the committee's activities at UF.

With the administration's cooperation, 14 or more faculty members were fired. An unknown number of students were expelled or left school.

The Johns Committee was disbanded in 1964 after issuing a report that was branded pornographic.

But advocates say Gainesville was still a chilly climate for gays for decades. In the early 1980s, as some state legislators tried to pull state money from any university that let gay groups use campus facilities, UF's gay student organization lost its office in the student union. Student leaders questioned the group's benefit to the campus, though the organization pointed to a variety of campus activities and community service projects. The group ultimately moved off campus, according to a history on UF's Web site.

Now, UF's student government underwrites one of the university's gay student groups, the Pride Student Union. Another, the Gator Gay-Straight Alliance, organizes campus wide "same-sex hand-holding days." In 2003, UF's trustees banned discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Many other Florida schools also have student organizations, staff and faculty groups and campus initiatives that represent gay interests. Miami-based Florida International University has a predominantly gay fraternity, Delta Lambda Phi. At Boca Raton-based Florida Atlantic University, a student "gay-straight alliance" sponsors various activities. "Safe zone" stickers on about 60 campus office doors let gay students know where to find a supportive listener.

Inclusive image

But advocates, administrators and student leaders say that creating a full-time position that addresses gay issues sends a strong message of inclusion, putting gay students on a par with other minority groups who often have ambassadors in a university's inner circle. At UF, black, Hispanic and disabled students all have staff advocates.

A 2003 report estimated about 4.5 percent of UF's nearly 48,000 students are gay. By comparison, about 7.5 percent are black and about 10.5 percent Hispanic.

"Whenever there's a student group or a large demographic of students, they want their issues to be addressed with the administration. And this was an issue that many people wanted [addressed]," said student body president Jamal Sowell, a senior majoring in religion.

Advocate's role

The staff of UF's Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Affairs consists of Cohen, who came to UF from a New York City Jewish women's organization. Her $34,000-a-year job ranges from helping students resolve roommate problems to working with professors and staffers who are petitioning for domestic partner benefits.

A UF trustee committee considered extending health insurance and other benefits to employees' partners in 2003 but dropped the idea amid objections from trustee Alfred C. Warrington IV, the namesake of UF's business school.

Warrington says he continues to oppose domestic partner benefits because he believes homosexuality is morally wrong and wonders how UF would determine who would qualify for partner benefits. But Warrington said he was "very supportive" of Cohen's role as an ear and a voice for gay students.

"There have been some instances of discrimination, and anything [UF] can do to mitigate that is positive," he said.

To Cohen, her job signifies both a long way traveled and a distance remaining.

"A lot of people just have a feeling that it's so much better than it used to be," she said. "Does that mean there's not far to go? Of course not."

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