lust news
Hom ophobia focus of cam pus
___________ c o n fe r e n c e _ _ _ J ^ ^ ^ M
Continued visibility, coming out to heterosexual students,
professors and administrators, is crucial to gay
activism on campus
— that it is not okay to yell ‘faggot’ or ‘dyke’
BY A N N D E E H O C H M A N
across the campus, that it is not okay to put
harassing notes on people’s doors.
s more gay and lesbian students emerge
“Harassment is intended to keep us invis
from closeted life, campus-based homo ible and keep us in our place,” he said. “It’s
phobia has also come out of hiding, a national when we are who we are, unapologetically,
gay leader told Oregon students'at a confer with heterosexuals, that we have a measurable
ence last month.
impact on attitudes.”
Kevin Berrill, director of campus and anti
In an interview following the morning
violence projects for the National Gay and
session of the conference, Berrill acknowledg
Lesbian Task Force, said that “visibility has a ed that being “who we are” can be especially
price. Both on campus and off, there’s been a
difficult at the college level, when many
tremendous increase in anti-gay violence.”
students are still making decisions about their
About 50 students, including some from
sexual identity. Campus gay and lesbian
Reed College and Lewis and Clark College,
groups often have trouble defining themselves
joined others from Oregon State University at
and deciding whether their primary goal is to
the conference, held at the University of
sponsor social events, provide support or act
Oregon in Eugene. The one-day forum focus
politically.
ed on campus issues for lesbian and gay
“Some students get all freaked out if they
students, including responding to harassment,
come into a meeting with lots of talk about
developing leadership in lesbian organizations political activism when they’re still trying to
and acting politically.
decide if gay is okay,” he said.
Berrill said that statistics gathered by the
Successful gay student groups have made
NGLTF from college campuses demonstrate
alliances with the women’s community,
increased visibility and action from gay
people-of-color groups and Jewish groups to
student groups as well as an accompanying
combat sexism, racism, anti-Semitism and
backlash. To date, more than 120 schools
homophobia as linked issues, Berrill said.
have added sexual orientation to their non
His visits to Oregon campuses revealed a
discrimination policies, he said; at the same
range of awareness about gay and lesbian
time, 34 schools reported a total of 1,400 anti issues. He conducted a training for 35 faculty
gay incidents last year.
and staff at the Universtiy of Oregon; a
“As long as we’re invisible, the homo
similar workshop at Lewis and Clark drew
phobia is less visible as well,” he said. “As we only three people besides students — one
become more vocal, more visible, the fearful
resident adviser and two faculty members.
members of the dominant group react
Still, anti-gay violence is one of the few
violently.”
issues that draws consensus from both the gay
Such incidents, Berrill said, aim to divide
and straight community, Berrill said, and is a
the community by making gay and lesbian
productive avenue for legislation such as
students fearful; they are intended to carry a
message not only to the individual attacked,
but to the group. For that reason, he said, the
gay and lesbian community must support
people who are victims of violence and edu
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cate each other about violence prevention and
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response.
the most favorable response of
Brown University, for instance, has estab
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anything we’ve ever done."
gay violence and given training to campus
Ron Joy
security staff about such incidents.
BeniH stressed that continued visibility,
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particularly individual instances of coming
out to heterosexual students, professors and
administrators, is crucial to gay activism on
campus.
“You can’t change what people think and
feel,” he said. “But you can focus on behavior
A
Oregon’s anti-intimidation bill, which passed
in the 1989 session. With that bill, Oregon be
came one of five states with laws addressing
anti-gay violence. Berrill said the passage of a
federal hate-crimes statistics bill, which would
mandate data-collection on crimes against
gays and lesbians as well as other minorities,
is one priority for the task force this year.
Berrill reminded the students that, in spite
of the rise in anti-gay violence, gay men and
lesbians have made huge gains over the last
two decades.
“When I entered adolescence 20 years ago
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■ " ■ ■ ■ »■ ■ ... -- - .-I!-,, .......... ..
Harassment: how
d o you respond?
.
ou and a Mend are sitting in a restaurant.
Three teenagers at a nearby table begin
taunt-ing you — quietly at first, then louder.
“Hey...faggot. Jook at those two. It’s disgust
ing!” Do you taunt them in return, alert the
head waiter, move to another table, leave the
restaurant?
In a workshop on responding to harass
ment, Kevin Berrill of die National Gay and
Lesbian Task Force offered no pat answers for
such situations. Instead, he suggested ways to
evaluate possible responses.
People responding to harassment should
keep in mind the following criteria, he said:
1) Does die response keep you safe,
physically and emotionally?
2) Does the response challenge or deter the
victimizing behavior?
3) Does it leave you feeling powerful and
respectful of yourself?
4) Does it show respect for the basic
Y
in Brookfield, Connecticut, everything I’d
ever heard in the media or in books was that
gay and lesbian people were sinful, sick, de
praved creatures. Ann Landers was still say
ing we could change if we wanted to.
“I vowed that I was going to change, and
that if I was still queer by the time I was 17
I was going to hang myself with a necktie.
"Well, I’m still here. And I’m still queer,”
he said. “If this is the worst of times, it is in
some respects the best of times as well.”
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m............ ........................ •m m m m m mm
human dignity of the harass«?
When someone is harassing you, it rarely
makes sense to engage in conversation about
homosexuality and equal rights, he said. The
Issue is not your sexuality or your behavior;
the issue is harassment. Some ingredients of
an effective and safe response are:
1) Name the behavior. Say “that is
harassment” or “you are harassing me.” Be
specific: “I heard you use the word ‘dyke’ and
that is offensive to me.”
2) Let the person know how you feel, and
that you’re not alone. Say something like: “I
don’t like that behavior, and no one else in the
restaurant does either.” •
3) Tell the person to stop.
4) Disengage from the conversation.
5) If you are with someone else, check in
before you respond so you can support each
other.
“Every time we’re called dyke or faggot or
queer, it’s a reminder to us that we’re hated,”
Beirill said. “And it serves another purpose —
to divide us from ourselves.”
— Anndee Hochman
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