Lambda Alliance: Individual talks on campus usually positive
21st October 2008
What is it like to be a homosexual at the University?
This question and more were raised in an interactive Q and A session hosted by Lambda Alliance on Monday. More than 40 students attended the discussion, which allowed them to interact with and ask questions of Lambda members who volunteered to act as spokespersons.
"People are generally pretty cool," said Shawna Scott, Lambda's executive director, on life for homosexual students on campus. But Scott said there were times when hateful things were said to her.
"Experiences are usually positive on a personal level, when talking one-on-one with students or faculty members," said Natalie Blackburn, a transgender member of the panel who identifies as a woman. "When you're dealing with organizations or bureaucracies on campus, though, there are certainly barriers that exist."
As a freshman, Blackburn said she was displeased with how difficult it was to secure a dorm assignment with University Housing, whose protocol places freshmen who identify themselves as transgender in single-person rooms typically used for students with disabilities.
On which presidential candidate's stance that LGBT issues appealed most to the panel, Patrick Moore, Lambda's president of education, said Lambda "cannot and will not endorse any politician."
But, he said, "[Democratic nominee] Obama has a pro-LGBT voting record" and "[Republican nominee] McCain's stance is less clear."
McCain, who was against the most recent Constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, has been more vocal of his support for states' rights in such decisions than of his own personal beliefs.
Other topics raised by the audience included the sexual connotations of "top" and "bottom," research about the genetic basis of sexual orientation and how identifying as LGBT had affected the panel's relationships with their families.
One panel member said she has not spoken with her family since she came out more than five years ago. When asked at what age they began to realize that they were gay, lesbian or transgender, the panel said between six to 16 years old. Some members said they planned to leave Athens for a more diverse environment, but others said they plan to come back to Athens after graduate school.
Source: Red and Black