1) Diamondback Online; LGBT community, allies discuss state of univ.
2) The Record; Women’s centre and gay and lesbian centre to reopen after attacks
3) 365Gay; Influential gay minister Gomes dies at 68
4) Pride Source; College conference promotes activism for equality
5) Dallas Voice; Students launch gay group at Baylor University
6) Arkansas Times; God and gays at Harding University
7) Inside Higher Ed; Chestnut Hill Issues New Statement on Gay Priest It Ousted
8) Inside Higher Ed; Harvard Will Welcome ROTC Back to Campus
1) LGBT community, allies discuss state of univ.; Strides have been made, but more are needed, many said
By Lauren Kirkwood and Sarah Meehan Friday, February 25, 2011
The university has come a long way in providing resources to students struggling with their sexuality, members of the LGBT community and their allies said last night, but more is still needed to create an atmosphere of acceptance and inclusion.
During two town hall meetings held by the President's Commission for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender issues — one in the afternoon for faculty and staff and one in the evening for students — members of the campus community gathered to evaluate their experiences and compare them to a national survey evaluating LGBT issues on college campuses released last year.
The Campus Pride 2010 State of Higher Education for LGBT People — which served as the basis for yesterday's discussions — highlighted safety, discrimination and the need for better recruitment and retention of LGBT students, staff and faculty as the main issues at universities across the nation.
The report concluded conditions have advanced for the LGBT community on college campuses, but there is still room for improvement — a sentiment that rang clear in both town hall meetings.
Members of the university discussed whether the findings in the reports agreed with their own experiences — a "fact-finding, community-building and service-supporting kind of event," according to Mark Brimhall-Vargas, a member of the commission and event organizer.
Although the Board of Regents approved extending benefits to same-sex spouses in September, many faculty and staff members said ensuring adequate benefits for same-sex partners needs to be a priority.
English professor Martha Nell Smith recounted her struggle to secure domestic partner benefits in the 1990s.
"I cannot believe we are still having that discussion," Nell Smith said. "We have been unable to recruit stellar scholars because of that."
Student attendees cited a lack of understanding from their peers as one of their biggest challenges. They also noted that while the university has a wealth of resources, they are not always accessible.
Senior English major Suzaana Rose said she believes having a "safe space" for students to speak about their struggles is crucial, but often logistically difficult because acquiring a private meeting space for large groups like Pride Alliance is challenging.
"I think these are a big deal — and for some people, the difference between feeling alone and feeling like they're in a healthy environment," she said.
Other students raised the issue of life in the dorms as a problem for LGBT students, suggesting that giving new students the option of indicating their sexual orientation or acceptance of an LGBT roommate in the roommate surveys implemented by the Department of Resident Life would help students feel more secure.
"If you don't feel safe in your living environment, how are you supposed to live?" said senior government and politics major Jojo Damiano, who also serves on the commission.
Students said inclusion of LGBT issues in academics is one area the university has improved, citing The One Project — which offers UNIV 100 courses geared toward LGBT freshmen — as an example.
University President Wallace Loh attended the student meeting and said that LGBT academics will continue to be a priority.
"To have courses that expand people's awareness of LGBT issues is essential to the mission of this institution," he said, adding students' shared insights made clear the need for greater awareness.
Because the commission has not set an agenda for future plans, the body will use the notes collected from both town hall meetings to determine future projects and goals.
"I think it was really important that we opened up a dialogue," said commission Chairman Tanner Wray.
kirkwood at umdbk dot com, meehan at umdbk dot com
2) Women’s centre and gay and lesbian centre to reopen after attacks
Luisa D’Amato, Record staff Mon Feb 28 2011
WATERLOO — The women’s centre and the gay and lesbian support centre at University of Waterloo have reopened after closing earlier this month because of security concerns on campus.
“We can’t live in fear of what could happen,” said Zoe Miller, one of the co-ordinators of the women’s centre.
Both centres closed the week before last as a precaution, after anonymous written attacks on females frightened many people on campus.
The attacker or attackers, who have not yet been caught, placed homemade anti-female posters over the election posters of women candidates in the student elections earlier this month.
Also, email messages were sent across campus, pretending to be from university president Feridun Hamdullahpur, saying, in part: “Expose the defective moral intelligence of womankind.”
And a Facebook page was created that said, in part: “Over-educated women are truly dangerous.”
A public discussion was held on campus and the university’s police services began a criminal investigation.
Dan Anderson, director of the university’s police force, said the investigation is continuing. There has been no new anti-female activity — no posters or new emails or Facebook posts — that he is aware of, he said.
Security has been increased, and so the volunteers at both the centres felt it was time to reopen their doors.
“I certainly feel nervous being open again, but I think it’s really important,” said Adam Garcia, a co-ordinator of GLOW, the support centre for people with non-traditional sexual orientation.
He said it’s important not to allow anyone “to dictate our activities.”
Garcia said the support centre felt threatened as well, even though the written attacks did not target people because of their sexual orientation.
At the women’s centre, plans are underway to celebrate International Women’s Week next week.
This will include a combined birthday party for the women’s centre, celebrating its 30th year, and the gay and lesbian support centre, which is 40.
There will also be yoga, an indigenous feminist workshop with drumming and readings, a dance, open discussions, and a “bust casting” in which women make plaster models of their breasts.
The anti-female attacks earlier this month were “a rare and uncommon event,” said Nikki Best, vice-president of the Federation of Students.
“We’re moving in a positive direction,” she said.
(Cambridge, Mass.) The Rev. Peter J. Gomes, a nationally influential Baptist minister and advocate for tolerance who oversaw Harvard University’s Memorial Church for more than 30 years, has died. He was 68.
“Peter Gomes served Harvard with unparalleled dedication, wisdom, and creativity for more than four decades,” President Drew Faust said. “He was an original, a teacher in the fullest sense – a scholar, a mentor, one of the great preachers of our generation, and a living symbol of courage and conviction.”
Gomes described himself as a cultural conservative but stunned the Harvard community in 1991 when he said he was gay in response to harassment against gays on campus.
He published 11 volumes of sermons, as well as books, including 1996’s “The Good Book: Reading the Bible with Mind and Heart,” in which he analyzed the Bible’s use in marginalizing Jews, blacks, women, and gays.
He condemned those who used the Bible to justify racism, oppression and homophobia, but also steadfastly defended the text’s message.
Gomes was a professor at Harvard Divinity School who most recently taught classes on the history of Harvard and its presidents, interpreting the Bible, and an introduction to preaching.
He participated in the inaugurations of Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. He also participated in the first inauguration of Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick.
On campus, he was a valued adviser to generations of students and a trusted friend of faculty members across the spectrum.
“No one epitomizes all that is good about Harvard more than Peter J. Gomes,” said professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., director of Harvard’s W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research.
In 1979, Time magazine called him “one of the seven most distinguished preachers in America,” and in 1998 he was named Clergy of the Year by the organization Religion in American Life.
Gomes was born in Boston and raised in Plymouth. He received a bachelor’s degree from Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, and a divinity degree from Harvard.
He returned to Harvard in 1970 as assistant minister of the nondenominational Memorial Church, the center of Christian life on campus, and was named minister in 1974.
4) College conference promotes activism for equality
Lucy Hough 3/3/2011
ANN ARBOR -
This year's Midwest Bisexual Lesbian Gay Transgender Ally College Conference, which took place at the University of Michigan from Feb. 25-27, attracted 1,500 attendees. The conference theme, "justice or just us," was promoted through workshops and keynote speakers, encouraging the audience of mostly college students to act on change.
The activities of the conference provided a safe place for attendees, according to Mandy Klein, a coordinator for the Alliance of Queer and Ally Students at Michigan State University. She said that students who attended the conference for the first time were enthusiastic about the opportunity to be themselves.
"They really appreciated what it might feel like to be in a world where we didn't feel any prejudice anymore, and I felt that was a really awesome experience for them to have," Klein said.
Klein, on her third MBLGTACC conference, said she appreciated the political emphasis of the "justice or just us" theme.
"It was nice that this time there were a lot of workshops that focused on achieving equality for all and sometimes in alternative ways, not ways that we think of right away," Klein said.
Conference speakers stressed the importance of activism. Mara Keisling, founder of the National Center for Transgender Equality in Washington, D.C., said that people are most effective toward change if they act for equality, rather than just talk about it.
The final speaker at the closing ceremony, Kris Hayashi, co-executive director of the Audre Lorde Project in Brooklyn, New York, spoke about the project's work with lesbian, gay, bisexual, two-spirit, transgender, and non-conforming people of color. He addressed the fact that the injustices to all minorities are a part of the same fight.
"It's particularly exciting to be here in the Midwest in such a historic moment, when tens of thousands of people in Wisconsin are fighting for the right to work, to organize and to survive in this critical time. It's a historic moment for anyone who believes in liberation, justice and the power of organizing."
The conference featured not just workshops and speakers, but also social events, including a dance and movie screenings the first night. Attendees used Facebook and Twitter to make new friendships last beyond the three-day event.
"I liked the openness of it, the fact that it drew so many people of this minority, and the minority got to be the majority," said Randy Brown, a psychology student at Eastern Michigan University. "I liked getting to know people who I can relate to ... we've all been through a similar journey together."
Brown said the conference left him feeling "energized and hopeful," and that he, like Klein, benefited from the focus on politics and what's happening in the LGBT movement.
"I'm not very (knowledgeable) about the current politics or some of the current issues, so it's nice to be presented with those facts. I think that in itself is a big motivator for change."
During the closing ceremony, it was announced that MSU would host MBLGTACC in 2013. Next year's conference will be held at Iowa State University.
5) Students launch gay group at Baylor University
March 2, 2011
Patti Fink, a Baylor University alum who serves as president of the Dallas Gay and Lesbian Alliance, alerted us to this story from the Baylor Lariat newspaper about a new group for LGBT students at the Baptist school in Waco:
The group, named the Sexual Identity Forum, is in the process of applying to be an officially chartered student organization at Baylor, and its founding members expect a final decision on the chartering to be made before the end of the month.
Alvarado senior Samantha Jones, the organization’s president who affirmed during the meeting that she is openly gay, said she was motivated to start a discussion group because she believes the administration has not always been accepting of students with alternative sexual identities.
“I feel as though the student body in and of itself is very welcoming,” Jones said. “Everyone I’ve come out to or approached has been very welcoming and very compassionate and tolerant. I feel as though the high administration … refuses to recognize that there are gay students on campus, and they refuse to allow a group like this to exist.”
The story goes on to say that Baylor prohibits students from participating “in advocacy groups which promote understandings of sexuality that are contrary to biblical teaching.” However, the university’s director of students services wouldn’t comment on whether the Sexual Identity Forum is likely to receive a charter.
This is a remarkable development at a school where Kenneth Starr is president and where, in the past, students have been expelled for being gay.
UPDATE: The group’s charter has been denied. Read more here.
6) God and gays at Harding University
Max Brantley on Wed, Mar 2, 2011
Interesting reading has arrived:
At this attachment, you'll find a "zine" described as containing perspectives from current and former gay and lesbian students at Harding University. Here's a website with more.
Harding, the Church of Christ institution in Searcy, hews to church teaching on homosexuality (disapproving) and participants say they have written anonymously for fear of fallout. As the website said: "It is part storytelling, part religious and political critique, and partly a manifesto of hope for Harding’s future." Take a look.
I've sought comment from Harding officials.
UPDATE: The group moved up activation of its website. It had been originally set for 9 p.m. tonight. But news began leaking out and the site was activated. Not long afterward, access to it was blocked at Harding.
UPDATE II: Harding responds on blocking the website.
UPDATE III: See video from Harding president David Burks reading a statement about the website and zine, and see how the story has spread across the blogosphere and on social media in the first Arkansas Times Storify.
I'm writing you on behalf of a group of former and current Harding University students who identify as gay or lesbian. We have collectively written and compiled a zine about our experiences being gay and lesbian at Harding (an explicitly conservative, religious, anti-gay institution, as you probably know) and have prepared for a large scale distribution of this zine, in physical and electronic forms, for this coming Wednesday and Thursday. We have contacted various bloggers, writers, etc throughout the U.S. who have some ties to Harding or have previously written about Harding in any way and are asking them to consider writing a blog post (or any other sort of mention) about the zine on either Wednesday night after 9pm or anytime on Thursday. Thus I am writing you to consider doing this.
7) Chestnut Hill Issues New Statement on Gay Priest It Ousted
March 4, 2011
Chestnut Hill College on Thursday issued a new statement on its removal of two courses from Rev. James St. George, a gay priest who worked as an adjunct at the Roman Catholic college and was popular with many students. The statement said that "we express our sorrow for not communicating our decision, rife with complex and complicating factors, clearly" and that the college's decision was "sensationalized and distorted," becoming "a source of deep pain and anguish for the members of our college community, especially for those who are gay, as well as for our gay alumni, friends, benefactors, and neighbors. We ache for the negative impact this story is having on them. Likewise, we are sincerely sorry for the confusion and misinterpretation of facts that led people to draw conclusions about Chestnut Hill College that are inconsistent with our history." The statement did not detail any of the distortions that the college believes have been expressed elsewhere, but stated (emphasis in original) that Chestnut Hill is "an inclusive Catholic community that welcomes women and men from all religious faiths, cultures, backgrounds and lifestyles." The statement also said that the college "is reviewing its policies and procedures to ensure that this situation never happens again."
The college did not respond to requests to talk about the statement and to elaborate on its points -- just as the college did not respond to requests for elaboration on its earlier statement about its former adjunct.
Father St. George is not a Roman Catholic, but is part of the Old Catholic Apostolic Church of the Americas,which split from the Roman Catholic Church in the 1870s and which today permits priests to be married or gay. The college's initial statements denied that Father St. George was fired (even though he produced contracts he had been given for two courses) and suggested that he deceived the college by wearing "a traditional Catholic priest's collar" (when Father St. George noted that he is openly gay and openly not a Roman Catholic, and has talked publicly about both of those facts for years).
Students at the college have created a Facebook group and are organizing a rally to defend Father St. George. On the Facebook page, the students say that "Father James St. George is an amazing teacher who has the ability to really get his students to think outside the box while looking at a situation from all points of view," that they believe that "EVERYTHING that Chestnut Hill has released has been a LIE and cannot be reached for comment. They will not even answer to their students, like me," and that students should "show your support for EQUALITY, RELIGIOUS UNDERSTANDING, and JUSTICE."
8) Harvard Will Welcome ROTC Back to Campus
March 4, 2011
Harvard University on Thursday announced that it will formally welcome back to campus the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps, and will discuss similar affiliations with other branches of the armed forces. Harvard officials previously signaled that they would do so once Congress cleared the way for openly gay individuals to serve in the military. Harvard students have had the option of training with an ROTC unit at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and they will continue their joint training. But Harvard will now pay some of the costs of the program, provide Navy ROTC with office space and hire a director for the program. A statement from Drew Faust, Harvard's president, said: "Our renewed relationship affirms the vital role that the members of our Armed Forces play in serving the nation and securing our freedoms, while also affirming inclusion and opportunity as powerful American ideals. It broadens the pathways for students to participate in an honorable and admirable calling and in so doing advances our commitment to both learning and service."
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