The weather isn't the only thing heating up campus this spring. On the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered (LGBT) scene, festivities are already in full swing. It is April no longer - it's "Gaypril," and everyone's invited.
To encourage students, gay or straight, to take notice of Tufts' LGBT community, the LGBT center is co-sponsoring events throughout April, both at Tufts and in Davis Square.
The activities include weekly meetings of the Tufts Transgendered, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Collective (TTLGBC) on Monday nights, as well as other events organized with a social and political agenda. The LGBT center schedules events throughout the year, but a special emphasis is placed on Gaypril.
"We've had a lot of great events over the years, from poets to filmmakers, activists to academics... really the gamut," said Judith Brown, director of the LGBT center.
The first event of this year's Gaypril celebration, TTLGBC's "Bring an Ally Meeting," was held on April 2 in the East Hall lounge. According to Gaypril co-coordinator sophomore Michael Lambert, the inaugural event was meant to attract "straight allies" to the group's weekly meetings.
"A lot of people on campus think they can't come to the TTLGBC meetings if they aren't gay," Lambert said. "In our society many people perceive that only gay people can be 'allies' of gay people."
The meeting is indicative of one of the month's primary goals. "It is a call [to allies] not to be afraid... to put up a 'safe place' sticker or wear a rainbow button in support," straight ally Meredith Gilbert said.
Gilbert said the meeting provided a valuable opportunity for regular attendees to talk to those joining the group for the first time. "The difference was huge for the people who regularly go to the meetings to see that support," she said.
Although Gilbert spoke at this year's "Coming Out Day" festivities about her role as a "straight ally," she has recently expressed a desire to eliminate the use of that term: "The idea of the 'straight ally' should be gotten rid of entirely," she said. "People who are gay shouldn't need 'allies' at all. Ideally, we will reach a point when you won't need the distinction of being 'straight' around gay people and everyone will just be allies of each other, anyway."
On Tuesday, the TTLGBC and the Tufts Christian Fellowship (TCF) co-sponsored one of Gaypril's most publicized events - an open dialogue featuring Evangelical Christian journalist Wendy Zoba and gay journalist Dave Cullen. The discussion featured Zoba and Cullen's experiences with the rift between the Evangelical Christian and LGBT communities.
"This was an attempt to start a dialogue where there never was one before," Lambert said. "This is the first time that we have ever co-planned an inter-group event. From a personal perspective, it seemed appropriate to move out across the controversial lines that tend to separate our groups."
But not all Gaypril events have a greater political purpose. Last Friday, the LGBT center screened The Birdcage; next Thursday, gay musician Bob Braunewell will perform in Hotung Caf?©. "We're as much a social group as a political one," Lambert said. "The gay community likes to have fun, too." The month will end on a relaxing note with an intercultural barbeque.
"There isn't much of a deeper political purpose... we're just looking to relax and end the month with a sense of unity among the culture groups at Tufts," Lambert said.
On the heels of the Safe Colleges Conference, which was held on campus in the last week of March, Gaypril has kept up the momentum in the LGBT community for these first two weeks of April.
"[The conference] gave us a nice kickoff to Gaypril... the fact that much of the funding came from [Vice President of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering] Mel Bernstein's office shows the campus support for events like this," said Shou Min Tan, a senior.
According to Tan, Gaypril will broaden perspectives and provide both gay and straight students an opportunity to celebrate. "[Gaypril] is a great opportunity for people who aren't gay to be exposed to gay events and for gay people to be proud," he said.
