The entire University community is responsible for addressing the challenges of being gay at Georgetown, a panel of faculty, staff and students determined Tuesday night.
Over 50 members of the Georgetown campus met to discuss the issues faced by gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people at the University.
The evening’s moderator, Bonnie Morris, professor of women’s and gender studies, noted in her opening comments that all students and faculty are affected by the political and theological debate over gay rights, not just those who consider themselves LGBTQ.
But English professor Jennifer Fink said the community members who do participate in the discussion are too often only those directly affected. “[The responsibility] shouldn’t be placed on the faculty and students who are already in the conversation,” she said.
Monica Escobar (CAS ‘07), co-president of Georgetown LGBTQ group GU PRIDE, blamed part of the problem on the lack of adequate resources given to the LGBTQ constituency on campus. The LGBTQ center’s primary administrator, Bill McCoy, splits his time between community coordinator for the center and assistant director of student organizations
McCoy admitted that his dual position limits his abilities to lead the LGBTQ community in effectively engaging faculty and students in a discussion of homophobia within Georgetown’s culture.
“There are resources, but they aren’t extensive,” Escobar said.
Several panelists were concerned that issues of homosexuality are not adequately addressed in Georgetown classrooms. When it comes to the challenge of dealing with homophobia in America and within the University itself, Fink said, Georgetown’s response still has a long way to go.
“This university indoctrinates students into perpetuating homophobia,” Fink said. “It’s painful to be in a room where the right to my existence is being questioned in such a profound way.”
Even within the LGBTQ community, understanding can be hard to come by, panelist Rashid Darden (CAS ‘01) said. Darden said he experienced discrimination and apathy by homosexual students as well as straight ones during his time at Georgetown. He called GU PRIDE a white, gay man’s organization no different from the rest of the University.
“The aesthetic was still Georgetown,” he said.
Escobar admitted that PRIDE’s infrastructure is not perfect. “I’m not going to pretend that PRIDE does not have problems,” she said.
Colgate University transfer student Tiffany Kuehner (CAS ‘07) said she was surprised by the comparative silence regarding sexuality at Georgetown when she arrived here this fall. “No one’s talking about sexuality,” she said. “It doesn’t seem like a safe area at all.”
“It fascinates me that at an institution like Georgetown, where all the students are seemingly bright, there would be so many misconceptions,” McCoy said.
