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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 11, 2002)
Today's crossword solution 1" Premier Travel • Airfare Specials!!! • 1 Los'Angeles - $127.00* Orlando - $186.00* Baltimore - $198.00* Chicago - $198.00* Max nol included. restrictions may apply. . Subject in change \\ ilhout notice. Eurail .Passes issued on-site!!! E-mail: faresfw Iuv2travel.com jlOll Harlow 1747-0909Jgs ^Student Travel Experts"' Advertise. Get Besults. Oregon Daily Emerald 346-3712 LGBT Educational and Support ServicesProgram Bridges Trainin October 19th tf « ' ^ ■ t 10:30am - 3:00pn&/^ Not so ordinary On National Coming Out Day, one student shares his story openly with the campus community Michael J. Kleckner Editor in Chief Scott Bonnell is a 21-year-old Uni versity senior majoring in political science with a business minor. He wears an unassuming, stylish hair cut, is dressed like a regular college student and carries a dark beige Ba nana Republic messenger bag. All of which may sound average and ordinary. But Bonnell is gay. For many young people who are gay, college is the first place they can acknowledge their homosexuality openly. Self-discovery is said to be one of the purposes of higher educa tion, and college towns often provide a sense of freedom and a more liber al community than students have experienced before. But for Bonnell, who recently came out to the entire country in The Advocate, the nation’s longest running gay news magazine, a sense Jeremy Forrest Emerald University senior Scott Bonnell decided he was through lying about his sexuality. of freedom was only half the battle. In order to express fully his gay iden tity, he needed to find a place where no one knew him and he could begin with a clean slate. That happened earlier this year, when he was an in tern for Disney in Orlando, Fla. “That was the major turning point,” he said, “where I decided basically — here it is; I’m laying it out on the table, and if no one likes it, then...” He trails off, politely not finishing the sentence. For his national com ing out, however, he did finish the thought. “If you don’t like it, then fuck you,” he wrote on The Advocate’s Web site. That emotion, that uncompromis ing sense of self, likely came from the stress he carried while living an “average” life — or at least, an aver age heterosexual life. “All my friends, before I told I---1 rOCKLQTC Ice Cream and Coffee Parlour WEEKLY SPECIALS: Tuesday- Hot FudgeSuudaes Friday- Euphoria Ultra U 19th & Agate St. Open Daily 12-1lP.M. rmncc rooms Ice Cream and Coffee Parlour Bring this coupon in for FREE WAFFLE CONE with any ice cream or frozen yogurt scoop. Good through October 2002 them, thought I was straight,” he said. “So they’d always come up to me and say, ‘Hey, what do you think about that girl? She’s kind of cute.’ (They would) fix me up on a date. And I just got sick of it.” The tension eventually built to where Bonnell felt he had no other choice but to come out. “I was afraid to check out a guy,” he said. “I just couldn’t be myself. I mean, it pissed me off after a while. It got to the point where I was just like, this isn’t even worth it.” Even then, the decision was diffi cult because Bonnell wasn’t sure how his ordinary friends in Beaver ton — which he describes as “con servative, yuppie, judgmental” — would react. “What are they going to think?” he asked. “Are they still going to be my friends? You know, everyone says that if they’re not your friends after telling them, that they weren’t your true friends to begin with. “But it’s a different feeling when you’re actually going to do some thing like that — like tell them.” Since living in Florida, Bonnell has come out to most of his friends, but not all of them. “I’ve got two friends up in Port land who I love very much and I would do anything for, but I know that they’re extremely conservative and completely anti-homosexual,” he said. “They’re the only two that I’m really, truly afraid to come out to because I think I actually would lose them.” Bonnell is in a similar situation with his parents, whom he has not told about his sexuality. “I feel like we’re probably not as close as we could be if they were un derstanding of it,” he said. “It really sucks when I go home for a week end, and they’re asking me, ‘So what have you been doing with yourself?”’ Here, Bonnell’s voice sounds al most plaintive. “And I want to tell them, you know, I threw a great dinner party on Saturday night with 20 of my friends, and they’re all gay,” he said. “We just had a couple of bottles of wine and barbecued. “Instead, I’m like, ‘I had a few friends over. And you don’t know them.’” It’s his friends, here on campus, that Bonnell said is the best part of being honest about his sexuality. “Once I came out, I opened up to all these different people. I started Turn to Coming out, page 10A Oregon Daily Emerald P.O.Box 3159, Eugene OR 97403 The Oregon Daily Emerald is pub lished daily Monday through Friday dur ing the school year by the Oregon Daily Emerald Publishing Co. Inc., at the Uni versity of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon.The Emerald operates independently of the University with offices in Suite 300 of the Erb Memorial Union. The Emerald is pri ■ • -vate property. The uniawful removal or * ' ' tisfe df f5a(5er*s k [Jrdsdcdtabl^ bV iW. * * NEWSROOM — (541)346-5511 Editor in chief: Michael J. Kleckner Managing editor: Jessica Richelderfer Freelance: Ayisha Yahya, editor News desks: Brook Reinhard, Jenni Schultz, news editors. Jan Montry, senior reporter—campus/federal politics, Brad Schmidt, senior reporter—city/state politics, Jennifer Bear, campus/city culture, Jody Burruss, environment/scienceAech nology, Jillian Daley, family/health/education, Danielle Gillespie, safe ty/crimeAransportation Pulse: Jacquelyn Lewis, editor. Ryan Bornheimer, senior repoAer. Helen Schumacher, Aaron Shakra, reporters. Joe Bechard, Nika Carlson, Natasha Chilingerian, Peter Hallinan-, MasorvWest, columnists Sports: Peter Hockaday, editor. ' Adctrfi Judd, teti ibr’rdpbrtet. HM Hagdr.'JdsSeThdntaS, reporters. Commentary: Salena De La Cruz, Pat Payne, editors. M. Reilly Cosgrove, Meghann Farnsworth, Philip Huang, Julie Lauderbaugh, Kathryn Petersen, columnists Design: Colleen Froehlich, editor. Jennie Cramlet, senior graphic designer. A. Scott Abts, Adelle Lennox, graphic designers. Steve Baggs, Peter Utsey, illustrators. Tyler Wintermute, junior illustrator Photo: Adam Amato, editor. Adam Jones, senior photographer. Jeremy Forrest, Mark McCambridge, photographers Copy: Kimberly Chapman, Jennifer Snyder, copy chiefs. Susan Gayton, Colleen McDonald, Jennifer Sudick, Heather Thompson, Travis Willse, copyeditors Online: Erik Bishoff, editor. Helen Irwandi, webmaster. BUSINESS — 346-5512 General manager: Judy Riedl Business supervisor: Kathy Carbone Receptionist: Sarah Goracke Distribution: Tyler Anderson, Joel Domreis, John Long, Craig Richardson, Mike Sarnoff-Wood ADVERTISING — DISPLAY 346-3712 CLASSIFIED 346-4343 Director: Becky Merchant Sales manager: Michael Kirk Special publications manager: Trina Shanaman Sales representatives: Tim Bott, Michelle Chan, Aaron Golden, Kim Humphries, Jenn Knoop, Lindsay McNamara, Mickey Miles, Laura Staples, Sherry Telford, Jeremy Williams Assistants: Katy Cooney, Helen Geesman, Katy Hagert, Erin O’Connell, Keri Spangler PRODUCTION — 346-4381 Manager: Michele Ross Production coordinator: Tara Sloan Designers: Laura Chamberlain, Emily Cooke, Matt Graff, Andy Holland, Marissa Jones, Jayoung Park, KiraStoops * « . * < *»* ><<«,
