As the debate over Tufts' nondiscrimination policy rages on, members of Tufts' Transgendered, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Collective (TTLGBC) held a forum on Tuesday to address homosexual students' affiliations with particular religious organizations on campus. The panel "Practicing Love: Can Religion be Queer-Friendly?" featured four speakers who discussed the relationship between faith and sexual orientation and shared their personal experiences with the audience.
"We have great need for Tufts' queer students of faith to heel, share, and coordinate," said panel organizer Thea Lavin prior to the forum. Heated controversy related to homosexual students' involvement in religious organizations began last year with an incident involving the Tufts Christian Fellowship, and members of TTLGBC hoped that a forum would help them unite and share personal experiences and opinions.
The room where the panel was held was adorned with stoles belonging to a variety of religious orders, each telling the story of an individual's expulsion from a particular faith. Senior Julie Catalano, who helped coordinated the event, held at the Granoff Family Hillel Center, felt that there is great need to "bring individual stories into light, especially stories of pain that Churches have caused."
Speaker Lenny Goldstein told the crowd about his disassociation and ultimate reconciliation with the Jewish faith. Goldstein was raised in a non-orthodox Jewish family, but was a member of an orthodox synagogue during his childhood.
As a gay man, his transition to a reformist synagogue was particularly smooth. A female rabbi facilitated his entrance into the synagogue by introducing him and his partner to the congregation from the outset - as the first gay couple ever to join the synagogue, they were welcomed from the very beginning.
Today Goldstein works at Hillel as Director of Administrative Finance. "It is a wonderful, inclusive, pluralistic community where people argue fervently and then hug," he said of the organization.
Danika Kleiber, an atheist who belongs to the Unitarian Universal (UU) faith and the Tufts Feminist Alliance, has decided to label her sexual orientation as "undefined." One of the reasons Kleiber stands by her faith is due to its first principle, which is to "promote the inherent birth and dignity of every person."
The third speaker, Ken Hamill, began by explaining the Roman Catholic Church's stance on homosexual issues. According to the Church, the purpose of sex is twofold: to bear love and to serve as a means to procreate. Since homosexuals cannot bear children, said Hamill, the church does not accept them.
During his Catholic high school education, Hamill learned that "the words 'gay Catholic' were an oxymoron." With the help of one of his teachers, however, he soon realized that being Catholic and gay were not incompatible.
"At first I thought that being gay was an extra challenge," said Hamill. "Now I don't look at it as a cross: it's a factor that makes me who I am."
A Christian with a Methodist background, Tomas Lewis, who was psychologically and medically transformed from female to male, had a much more positive experience with faith.
"The Church can be very miserable, but when its good, it can be very, very good," he said. Although his experience was encouraging, Lewis acknowledged that most are not as lucky as he was. "If you are not accepted, sometimes you have to vote with your feet and shake off the dust," he advised to the crowd.
Following the speeches, the crowd sat in a circle and posed to both the panelists and the other members of the group. Asked how he would advise someone who has been excluded from a particular institution, a question that relates to the TCF debate, Hamill explained that, in his view, there is no need to externalize faith to find God.
"We need to look inside our conscious and interiorize the faith," he said, adding that "Love is the most important glue that holds us together."
Lewis proposed a firmer stance. "If a relationship with a person is abusive, we don't accept it," he said. "There are things you wouldn't take from a partner, yet we take it from the church." Lewis pointed out that it ultimately becomes a matter of firmly holding your position and not walking away. "You can't unbaptize me!" he exclaimed.
The discussion often focused on the scripture and its meanings. While some panelists and members of the audience seemed to agree that scripture must be analyzed in context and often interpreted metaphorically, others labeled scripture as hurdle that has to be overcome.
Catalano explained her view. "I understand where homophobia comes from in scripture, but what happens when someone commits suicide because he's gay?" she asked. "If religion leads to suicide, then what is its purpose? That's not what the Bible was ever intended for."
Redirecting the conversation to Tufts, Lavin asked whether certain organizations should fraction based on members' sexual orientation. A member of the audience commented that this would be dangerous and would only further segregation on campus.
"If Tufts needed a Gay Christian Fellowship, it would make me very sad," said one student.
A similar panel focusing on religion was held last Wednesday, when faculty and clergy discussed religion and violence at an event titled "Politics of Forgiveness vs. Violence as a Sacred Duty." Panelists included Father David O'Leary, Professor Ayesha Jalal, Rabbi Jeffrey Summit, and Provost Sol Gittleman. University Chaplain Scotty McLennan served as the moderator. They panelists tackled a variety of difficult subjects, including the separation of religion and nationalism, the concept of "just wars," and the role of religion in a community.