As part of the annual awareness month "GAYpril," the LGBT Center will host a "Safe Colleges Conference" tomorrow.
According to LGBT Center Director Dona Yarbrough, "GAYpril programming as a whole seeks not only to celebrate and validate lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer identities, but also to educate the LGBT community as well as the general Tufts community."
At tomorrow's events, which will be attended by students from a variety of campuses, participants will attend a variety of workshops that will focus on reducing racism and promoting economic equality via a greater understand of sexual and gender identities.
The keynote speaker will be Dorothy Allison, the author of several critically acclaimed books including "Cavedweller" (1998) and "Bastard Out of California" (1992) and recent winner of the 2007 Robert Penn Warren Award for Fiction.
A drag show will follow these events.
According to freshman and conference coordinator Rebecca Novak, the programming will aim to unite leaders and students in introspective discussion. "I think it is really important to bring together young activists and educators who students can relate to that can foster a conversation about the way activism is involved with every day life," she said.
The conference will also attempt to bolster the LGBT community by bringing together students from many colleges in the hope of creating a safe environment for them.
"It's a really great opportunity to build the LGBT community because a lot of kids come to college and they haven't come out yet, and college is the first time students can feel comfortable," Novak said. "It's nice to have students come from different colleges and see that there is a community that they can be a part of."
Also part of GAYPRIL, which is sponsored by the LGBT Center as well as the Queer/Straight Alliance, was Wednesday's "Day of Silence," during which students opted not to speak in order to remember and protest LGBT bias in schools.
Participants felt that the day provided a powerful outlet for expressing their support for the LGBT community. "I think the day of silence is incredibly important to voice the unheard voice in the community," sophomore Kris Coombs said. "Especially on a campus as liberal as Tufts, people still don't realize how silenced a lot of LGBT students feel, and even some allies feel they cant speak out in favor of the LGBT community."
Sophomore Ariel Davis conveyed the difficulty of following through with her pledge of silence. "I was silent to express my friendship and to show that I'm an ally to the LGBT community, but also I wanted to symbolically express the toll that hatred, discrimination and ignorance has taken on the gay community," she said.
"As someone who is very vocal, it was extraordinarily difficult," said Davis, who said that at one point during the day she found herself unable to maintain her silence.
The day concluded with a "break the silence" event that was held on the library patio. "Everyone yells at the top of their voice to break the silence and end the day with a very powerful voice," Coombs said.
According to Coombs, about 20 students came to break their silence in unison. "I think there was a lot of support but the actual turnout was not as high as I was expecting," he said. "It wasn't quite as well publicized this year as it had been in previous years."
Also this week was the "Pride on The Hill Spring Social," an event aimed to bring together alumni, faculty and students for a night of socializing.
"GAYpril isn't just targeted at the undergraduate population," sophomore Sofia Nelson, a student employee at the LGBT center, said.
According to Nelson, GAYpril programming has already been successful in attracting students from outside of the Tufts community. "We have been getting kids from Harvard and Brandeis and BU to come to our events," she said.
While the goal of all of the programming is to increase awareness and tolerance of the LGBT community, Yarbrough feels that, although there is work to be done, Tufts students already have a good starting point.
"Acceptance is relative," Yarbrough said. "In general, Tufts is more accepting of sexual minorities than many school populations are, but that acceptance is hardly universal, as is evidenced by the relatively steady number of bias incidents that are reported on campus each year."
Yarbrough sees a need to better educate students about lesser known topics.
"The general population's awareness of LGBT issues varies depending on the particular issue," Yarbrough said. "For example, while a number of Tufts students are aware and accepting of gay identity, fewer students are comfortable discussing bisexual and transgender identities."
Yarborough cited the dispelling of certain misconceptions as ways in which the LGBT center aims to educate.
"For example, I train many students, faculty and staff every year, and my audiences are often surprised when I tell them that most U.S. gay and lesbian people dislike the word 'homosexual' and do not use that word to describe themselves," she said.
Nelson agreed with Yarbrough that Tufts has been mostly accepting of LGBT issues, but that there is still room for improvement.
"You can be an ally of the LGBT community but that doesn't mean there doesn't need to be more awareness around legal considerations and the struggles with the basic things LGBT students struggle with," she said.
Events that will conclude the month of GAYpril include a film screening and discussion of "Touch of Pink," (2004) on April 23. The film focuses LGBT issues and the Asian community. Finally, on April 26, there will be the "Rainbow House Barbeque," and a performance by the literary group "Sister Spit."
--Lilly River contributed reporting to this article.
