Chalk It Up To Homophobia

On the morning of Oct. 8, 2003, students woke up to a campus covered with rather unusual chalkings: "Lesbians Love Bush," "Transgender Pillar," and "Tufts Loves Queer Pre-Frosh," just to name a few. Most people laughed, and many were moved to think about what it would be like to walk around in a world that sends queer-friendly messages instead of heteronormative ones. A few, however, were taken aback by the directness of the chalkings and wondered what right the Tufts Transgender Lesbian Gay Bisexual Collective (TTLGBC) had to write such scandalous phrases in public.

Twice a year, the queer community at Tufts makes itself visible all over campus. The first time is Coming Out Day, which was held this year on Oct. 8. As I mentioned before, members of the community spend the previous night chalking campus and painting the cannon. Coming Out Day, an annual celebration of LGBT people who have "come out of the closet," encourages queer people and their allies to express their pride freely.

The chalkings, posterings, painting of the cannon, and rally at the Campus Center serve as a means to allow the campus, particularly the questioning population of the campus, to know that there IS a queer community at Tufts and that we are proud of who we are. People who attended the rally heard personal coming out stories that ended in both joy and sadness, and they were allowed to witness the pain and insecurity that so often marks the beginning of the coming out process.

It is a shame, then, that in the middle of the night before Coming Out Day one or several homophobic cowards changed some queer-positive chalkings into mocking and offensive ones. One of these chalkings, for instance, showed a door that read "closet" with a pair of "gay footprints" walking into it. Such chalkings are an obvious example of the ever-present homophobia that troubles not only Tufts University but also society in general. On a day designated to offer a safe haven for LGBT and questioning people, some students may have been pushed further back "into the closet" by messages which indicate that Tufts is NOT a safe space to be who you are, despite the fact that sexual orientation is included in the Tufts non-discrimination policy.

Last year, over half the bias incidents at Tufts targeted the LGBT community, so it is perhaps not surprising that these homophobic messages appeared on Coming Out Day. However, we should be all the more outraged that bias against queer people is so routine at Tufts. Some would defend anti-gay chalkings in the name of freedom of political expression. But when a minority identity is specifically targeted and attacked, it is not a "political statement" but rather an act of bigotry. We, the community of LGBT and ally students, must pledge to drive down the number of bias incidents against all people.

How can we do this? There are several options: get involved in the LGBT political organization, EMERGE; speak up when you hear offensive comments such as "That's so gay"; help us chalk next October; or show your support by coming to LGBT-related events. As I mentioned earlier, there are two days during the year when the queer community makes itself visible all over campus, the first being the celebratory Coming Out Day in October, the second being the somber Day of Silence in April. On April 21, 2004, I invite all students, staff, and faculty, regardless of gender and sexual identity, to take part in the National Day of Silence, when those who support making anti-LGBT bias unacceptable take a day-long vow of silence to recognize and protest the discrimination and harassment -- in effect, the silencing -- experienced by LGBT students and their allies. We must not ignore incidents of hatred in our community but confront them in order to rid our society of oppression.

Kit Stanton is a senior majoring in history.