Groups of friends sat around the candle-lit tables listening as poets and musicians shared their works. Conversation came from every corner of the gathering and laughter resounded through the night. As last Tuesday's poetry reading at the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) Center came to a close, two performers spontaneously collaborated and showed that strength really does come in numbers.
On the eve of National Coming Out Day, the Tufts Transgender Lesbian Gay Bisexual Collective (TTLGBC), and the LGBT Center provided students an opportunity for some low-key celebration after the day's rally.
The TTLGBC, a student organization for people of all sexual orientations to lend support to each other and to promote campus-wide awareness, understanding, and sensitivity, holds celebrations for Coming Out Day so that students can share their experiences of coming out at Tufts and encourage others to do the same.
One of the leaders of the TTLGBC, sophomore Laurie Bishop, praised the pride of the students who participated in the rally, but felt that peripheral circumstances prevented the students from completely enjoying the day.
"The rally itself went really well, but there was a spirit of unrest," Bishop said. "A lot of the speeches were a call to stand up and fight, which it shouldn't be on a day that's supposed to be for us. This is supposed to be a day for us to celebrate."
The unrest that Bishop mentioned stemmed from the anxiety within the group over Friday's Tufts Christian Fellowship (TCF) hearing. For these students, this is more than just a debate - it's a personal affront. The TTLGBC has been a staunch supporter of Julie Catalano's complaint against the TCF throughout the process.
"Part of the TCF's funding is coming out of my money," Bishop said. "I am supporting an organization that I could never be a leader of."
Another leader of TTLGBC, sophomore Mike Lambert, acknowledged the group's right of religious freedom, but disagreed with TCF's policy.
"They have the right to believe in the morality or immorality of homosexuality, but when they take it to the next level by denying someone a leadership position, they break the law," he said.
About 30 students gathered on Friday afternoon to hold a candle-light vigil outside the hearing. For the most part, their hope for the hearing reaches beyond simply revoking the TCF's funding and status.
"I don't want the TCF to have my money or the Tufts name, but the thing I want the most is a policy change," said Bishop, expressing her wish that the TCF would allow homosexuals to assume leadership positions within their group.
"But that's the last thing that they want to give up," mused sophomoreYamara Coutinho, another TTLGBC leader.
Lambert looked beyond Friday's decision, focusing on relations between the TTLGBC and the TCF down the road.
"Regardless of the outcome of this trial, we just want to prevent any further conflict between us and the TCF," he said. "It won't change what people believe in. The TCF will still believe that homosexuality is immoral. We just want to encourage dialogue after the issue."
In general, however, members of TTLGBC praised the Tufts community for providing a safe place for students to come out.
"I can't even remember what I was scared about, coming out today as transgendered," Bishop said. "I know there is someone out there who needed to hear that. More importantly, I needed to say it. Thank you for that chance."
Lambert feels that Tufts provides an atmosphere in which students can freely express their sexuality.
"When you do high school sports, you just can't be gay... at least that's what I thought," Lambert said. "Now I know better, thanks to the openness of Tufts."
He encouraged others to feel confident in coming out, based on his own experience. "Don't underestimate your friends," Lambert urged. The TTLGBC, he explained, worries about those students who have yet to come out.
"For the number of us who are in TTLGBC, there are at least twice that number closeted," Bishop estimated.
Members of this tight-knit community want people to know that they have a safe environment in which to express their sexuality.
"Our visibility will encourage more people to feel confident about coming out," Lambert said.
TTLGBC members work out of the Bolles House, the new home of the LGBT Center, which sits on the corner of Professor's Row and College Ave. The center acts as a watchdog for the administration to prevent discrimination and to promote campus-wide awareness of the effects of homophobia. It also provides students with a comfortable space to discuss issues surrounding sexual identity.
"The point of this office is to make sure that Tufts is the best campus it can be for its gay students," said Judith Brown, the head of the LGBT Center.
Members of the Center have had their work cut out for them this semester. Hate crimes and acts of discrimination have been on the rise since September.
"The campus climate feels a little bit different this year," Brown said. "LGBT students seem a little more aware of safety issues than they ever have been before. The amount of graffiti we have now is about the same amount that we'd usually have in two years, and it's only six weeks into the semester. It doesn't make sense to me. For some reason, there's permission in the air to act really badly."
In addition to outright prejudice acts, Bishop addressed the common tendency that people have to make thoughtless comments.
"Casual jokes and comments and throwing the word 'faggot' around is accepted," she said. "In a lot of circles, it seems to be okay for some reason."
Although Lambert agreed that people make such remarks too often, he felt that they at least knew that what they were saying was wrong. He finds that if he corrects someone who has offended him, they stop.
"I don't think that it's any more hostile this year than other years. I just think that people are being more vocal this year," Lambert said. "I think it's a sort of back lash to all the progress we've made. They fear that we've made too much progress."
