hann, '10)Hello, everyone!
I'm Loghann and as my profile says below, I'm an intern at the LGBTQ Center this year. I'm a member of the class of 2010 and majoring in religion.
Anyhoo, there's this really awesome program started last year called QTalk that we are hoping to continue, and I thought I'd tell y'all a little about it.
The aim of QTalk is to provide a space to discuss issues and ideas centered around coming out. At first this may seem a bit odd at a place considered as "accepting" as Vassar. Why don't people just come out, already? Nobody cares. In a way, though, this just makes it more difficult for students struggling with the experience because many of their friends and peers cannot empathize with the troubles they are facing. Also, a school like Vassar is host to students from wildly diverse cultural backgrounds. Many students who are comfortable being out and proud on campus are forced right back into the closet when they step out of the car at home. Some people have to monitor their Facebook profiles very carefully, always keeping track of who can see what part, if there are comments left that could give the wrong information to the wrong people. QTalk is here for these students.
Last year QTalk took the form of a discussion group that met several times a semester, each time with a different discussion topic. While we are still interested in having these discussion groups, it's been decided to get things started here on the blog. Feel free to leave comments, anonymous or otherwise!
So, are you comfortable being out at Vassar? Do you feel that other students/staff/faculty are sensitive to the problems faced by closeted students? Are you out any more or less at home versus at Vassar (if we can quantify such things)? Any other thoughts you'd like to share?
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2 comments:
For me I think that it is difficult because I was never this out in high school, but am really trying to be more open/comfortable here. But people just assume that it is really easy and it makes it hard to bring up all of the problems I had at home/fears/uncertainties/questions... I also don't think that a lot of people realize how much energy and emotional strain it takes to go from being closeted to being out.
I think that for a lot of students who come from places like Kansas and Missouri (haha, I just had to use our homes as examples) still have the shame attached to coming out that they experienced at home. So even though they can look around and say, 'that's great, no one cares that that guy is gay!' it's hard to shift that sentiment over to 'this is great, no one cares that I'm gay!'
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