At the College, where The Dartmouth's own headlines have trumpeted news of the third annual PRIDE Week this past week, this week's Mirror asks, 'How has being a part of the LGBTQA community at Dartmouth changed in the past few years, and where is the community headed in the coming years?'
"I feel like Dartmouth has definitely changed and become more inclusive of LGBT students, but there is still a long way to go," Ray Rodriguez '09, one of the organizers of PRIDE Week, said.
The letter A is sometimes added to the acronym LGBTQ to include "allies," or people who are not LGBTQ, but advocate for the fair treatment of those who are.
"In my eyes, there's a huge difference in the LGBT people that have been here for four years, and the '12s that just came in. This is obviously a generalization, but overall the ['09s] are not as willing to put themselves out there in a way that's soul-bearing," Christian Brandt '12, publicist for Gender Sexuality XYZ, said. "I feel like that's essential for creating the kind of change that we would like."
GSXYZ, also referred to as GSX, changed its name from the Gay-Straight Alliance last year in order to be more inclusive, Brandt said. The organization holds discussion meetings each week, and is sponsoring PRIDE Week with the help of a host of other clubs and campus groups.
In addition to PRIDE Week, other recent campus-wide developments concerning the LGBTQA community include the introduction of gender-neutral housing in Fall 2007 and the expansion of the non-discrimination policy in June 2006 to include gender identity and expression.
Dartmouth, however, like the nation as a whole, has a history of discrimination against members of the LGBTQA community.
As there were no out and openly gay or bisexual men in the early years of Dartmouth, according to a librarian at Rauner Library, it is difficult to gain a sense of these individuals' experiences. The only evidence of their existence is through penal records.
"The Boys of Beaver Meadow: A Homosexual Community at Dartmouth College," an essay by Nicolas L. Syrett, documents one early case in the mid-1920s in which one student was expelled from the College and two students were ousted from their fraternity, Epsilon Kappa Phi, for suspected homosexual activity in an off-campus house in West Norwich, Vt.
The Gay Student Support Group, founded in 1977, was the first organization that served as a voice for gay students on campus. GSSG changed its name to the GSA in 1979.
Despite the formation of the GSSG, discrimination persisted. In 1984, for example, one Kappa Kappa Kappa fraternity member was forced to depledge and another was asked to remain permanently inactive after they said they were openly homosexual.
"As recently as two years ago, students who were open about their homosexuality might discover one morning that someone had urinated under their dormitory door," said a 1988 Boston Globe article about a Dartmouth student-run theatre production on the topic of AIDS.
"When I came here, it was more like, 'Those are the gays,'" Taylor Holt '09 said. "I feel like for a lot of people, it's one of the many identities they have -- it's not just their first one."
In a campus environment that is increasingly open about sexuality, the gay community has also been transformed from a separate entity into what has become an integral part of the College, Elsa Rodriguez '09 said.
"I think to now, especially for women -- queer women on this campus -- it's become a much more open thing," she said. "It's no longer like, 'Those women, those are the queer women.' People are much more open to exploration."
Just as members of a cultural group overlap with other communities and groups on campus, so do members of the LGBTQ community. Nevertheless, athletics is the one area of campus in which the LGBTQ community has a relatively small presence.
"[Being gay at Dartmouth] has been a very positive experience, but one thing that definitely disappoints me is the very small population of out gay athletes," Tyler Ford '11, a member of the men's track and field team, said. "That leaves us without a support system."
"Sports is one of the hardest places to come out in, to feel comfortable. Especially for guys, it's such a macho area," Holt, a former member of the men's water polo team, said.
Many students I spoke with said that the low number of openly-LGBTQ students in athletics leaves only those that are present to serve as role-models, placing additional pressure on these students.
"Dartmouth has had a history of out gay athletes, and gay athletes at Dartmouth have the responsibility that they need to represent something more to closeted gay athletes throughout athletics, to the gay community in general," Holt said.
Ray Rodriguez said that for many LBGTQ students, the focus has changed from declarations of existence to advocacy.
"I think it's moved away from students having to showcase that they are here, getting the community to be visible," he said. "What is needed now is more gender-neutral spaces and for the administration to show visibly that they care about that."
Although Dartmouth introduced gender-neutral housing last year, students seeking these rooms are limited to only a handful of designated floors and rooms in residence halls like Fahey-McLane. Students who wish to live in a gender-neutral space can also try for a single during room draw. This option, however, is sometimes only available to upperclassmen with high priority numbers.
"People have these set notions of gender roles and gender identifications, that it completely limits peoples ideas about how we can interact with each other in the world," GSXYZ member Mia Wiegand '12 said. "I think the Greek system here perpetuates [such notions] in a higher way than it would [elsewhere]. I think that it's a common thing when you have a Greek system, a gendered Greek system."
On campus, where Greek life is prominent, there are many openly-LGBTQ members at a wide range of single-gender Greek houses. Individuals' experiences within their houses vary widely.
"There aren't enough spaces that are inclusive of gay students. The Greek system is the first example. I am a member of a Greek house, and sometimes even I don't feel welcome," Ray Rodriguez said.
Other students agreed that campus lacks enough inclusive spaces for students.
"I pretty much find it an open campus in general," Elsa Rodriguez said. "In Sigma Delt, it's a pretty open house. Maybe everyone is not as comfortable seeing gay PDA but there's no anti-anything. I haven't really experienced that at all."
Some students expressed concerns with the College administration's policy towards LGBTQ students.
"The institution is afraid of showing visibly that it supports LGBT students. It's nice to get a lot of money. It's one thing to give money and it's another to be vocal and visible," Ray Rodriguez said.
Dartmouth has changed in the four years that members of the Class of 2009 have been on campus, according to Rodriguez. He added that now, perhaps, it is up to the '12s to plan out the changes they would like to see implemented in the future.
"I want GSX to be more politically active," Brandt said. "I think that there should be -- if not GSX being politically active -- a new club should be formed that can be politically active. Right now GSX is more a discussion group."
Some students, however, expressed the need for student discussion outside of GSX.
"I think that discourse is really important. Calling people faggots -- rhetoric is really important -- that can be worked on," Lizzy Hennessey'09 said. "We have to decide as a Dartmouth community how we're going to speak and what those words mean. If they're offensive to anyone, they're offensive to everyone."
Changes in other aspects of life at the College could also make the school even more inclusive, Ford said.
"If I had to set a goal for the athletic department, I would like to see a support system, whether it be a discussion group or a counselor, and make that person really visible," he said. "I would like to see every team have a meeting before the season starts to discuss the atmosphere, and what is to be expected, and what won't be tolerated."
Otherwise the atmosphere could affect the individual athlete's performance, Ford said.
"People can't be coming down to practice worrying about whether they're going to be called gay, whether their teammates will feel comfortable around them," he added.
Nevertheless, Hennesey said that the atmostphere at Dartmouth can be protective.
"There's a little bit of a stigma that you have to get over, but it's a non-issue, sort of," Hennessey said. "Here I feel like we're protected in a way. It fits with what Dartmouth's about in general, the Dartmouth community."
