When Claudia Acevedo entered the Rabb Room of the Lincoln Filene Center on Tuesday, she did not look like the stereotypical activist. Dressed casually in blue jeans and a white blouse and looking slightly embarrassed, she immediately apologized for her tardiness and expressed her appreciation for the small crowd that had gathered to hear her speak.
A native of Guatemala, Acevedo joined the Tufts community to speak on the gender-based violence and homophobia that have become common within her home country: The past nine years have been a period of transition after a civil war that battered the Guatemalan people for 36 years, and violence remains a fact of life.
According to Acevedo, "a culture of violence and terror" has developed in Guatemala that persists to this day. She said that violent crimes committed against women - and particularly women who identify themselves as lesbians - are, in fact, increasing, despite the official end of the civil conflict.
"Last year, 590 women were assassinated," said Acevado, whose talk at Tufts was sponsored by the Association of Latin American Students, the Latino Center and the Arts, Sciences and Engineering Diversity Fund.
"This year," she added, "there have been 580 deaths."
The government, Acevado said, is quick to blame the violence on gangs, domestic abuse and prostitution related crimes, but Acevedo sees other explanations for the killings. "Fifteen to 20 percent of the victims are found in pairs," she said. "When the newspaper reports the killings, it says that the women may have been involved in an intimate relationship."
In response to continuing prejudice against people of diverse sexual orientations, Acevedo founded a group called Lesbiradas in 1999. It is currently the only public lesbian organization in Guatemala. In 2004, Lesbiradas - along with other civil rights groups - launched a campaign to encourage the government to take action to protect all of its citizens from discrimination and violence, and to publicize the issue of diverse sexual orientations.
"Guatemala is a society where sexuality is not talked about," Acevedo said. "We're trying to get the theme of sexuality on the table."
Here at Tufts, the issue is more than on the table; it's in the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate. "I'm the community representative for the Queer Straight Alliance [QSA] to the TCU Senate," said sophomore Jonathan Fichman about his participation in the gay community at Tufts. "I'm basically a liaison between the Senate and QSA, so our interests and concerns are represented."
QSA, formerly known as the Tufts Transgender, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Collective (TTLGBC), is the main LGBT student group on campus, according to Fichman. But QSA is not simply TTLGBC with a new and shorter acronym.
"We reincorporated a political group called Emerge, and now QSA represents both," he said. "I think that the political and social purposes together work really well to represent a lot of LGBT issues on campus."
Fichman said that by including a political group in QSA, he would like to see more straight students will begin to participate. "Straight people at Tufts are sometimes a little scared to get involved in LGBT stuff because they're not sure they belong," Fichman said. "That's a big reason why we reincorporated the political aspect. A lot of straight people might not be interested in coming to a gay party at the Rainbow House, but they're politically aware."
QSA has recently worked to include gender identity and expression in the nondiscrimination policy at Tufts, which prohibits discrimination based on race, religion, sexual orientation and various other factors. A few weeks ago, Tufts' Board of Trustees approved the addition.
"This means that a person who doesn't identify as male or female, or a person who was born male but identifies as female is protected," said sophomore Sean Locke, a co-coordinator of QSA, along with junior Gabriel Blanco and sophomore Elena Mead.
"A general thing that we think needs to be done is more education of transgender issues not only within the LGBT community, but in the larger community at Tufts," Locke said.
Blanco, who was born in Venezuela, has become very active in the gay community since coming to Tufts. As a co-coordinator of QSA, he is personally in charge of managing the group's budget and also assists in planning events. But when he visits family in Venezuela, he is well aware of the homophobia that persists in much of Latin America.
"My entire family knows," Blanco said. "But I'm not wearing an 'Out and Proud' shirt in Venezuela because it's not accepted in that country. I don't have problems because I don't let myself have problems."
Blanco, Locke and Fichman all agreed, however, that Tufts has generally been a welcoming place for its LGBT students.
"I've heard of people not feeling comfortable, but I personally - and most of my friends - feel very comfortable being out on campus as gay men," Blanco said. "I think a lot of the reason we can say we're so comfortable at Tufts is because we have the really great staff, faculty and administrative backing."
"Most recently on Coming Out Day, a lot of different representatives from different departments of the University came just to express their support," Fichman remembered. "That really communicates, and I really like that."
While Fichman acknowledged that improvements can be made in the relationship between the straight and gay communities on campus, he was appreciative of the resources available and the progress that's been made.
"Here at Tufts, at least we can have a dialogue," he said.
