Gaypril Comes Again

Harvard has come a long way from its days of expelling students believed to be gay: bisexual, gay, and lesbian (though not transgender) students are now protected by the University’s non-discrimination code, openly queer professors profess in classes where openly queer students learn, and all Houses now have Gender and Sexuality Tutors. It’s easy to think that homophobia and heterosexism at Harvard are things of the past.

But homophobia, heterosexism, and transphobia are still very much a fact of life here. Many queer students are still expected to explain or defend their identities and decisions, there are queer students who continue to find Harvard an inhospitable place to come out, people’s sexual and gender identities still serve as a basis for prejudice, and anti-queer acts of violence occur. Moreover, some social circles are considerably less accepting than others. Despite all of the progress Harvard has made, we can still make the University a better place for queer students, faculty, and staff.

Gaypril, a month full of activities for the queer community and its supporters, is meant to address these concerns. During Gaypril, the Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Transgender and Supporters Alliance (BGLTSA) tries to create a space in which all queer students and their supporters can feel comfortable and proud of who they are. Sometimes that simply means raising queer visibility; sometimes that means throwing a party; sometimes that means educating people about issues like campus policies; and sometimes that means talking about sexual practices or identities that are normally only mentioned with a snicker or a sneer.

For the BGLTSA, however, “raising visibility” plays a particularly important role in our mission. We live in a world (and on a campus) where it is taken for granted that everyone is straight save a few well-marked exceptions who are rarely ever worth mentioning. But the more people assume, the more arched eyebrows at same-sex couples walking down the street, the more stares at students whose genders are difficult to distinguish, the more gossip about people coming out of the closet, the more discomfort about mentioning one’s queer gender or sexuality, the fewer such mentions, the more people assume.

Events like observing the National Day of Silence or even our Drag Night serve to remind us that queer people exist and are worth mentioning. Often it is our most controversial events that do the best to raise our visibility. After e-mail debates about our BDSM Panel or our Sex Toy Party, some people will think the BGLTSA is too “radical,” some people will think that we’re doing good work, but everyone is less likely to take for granted that all the people on their e-mail lists, in their classes, in their houses or in their suites share a single sexual or gender identity.

Of course, the fact that events like the BDSM Panel or Queer Sex 101 are considered radical is just one more reason why we believe it’s so important to offer them. The goal of the BGLTSA isn’t merely to change our definition of “normal” to include a few new Will-&-Grace-esque, white male sexual identities. We think everyone, regardless of sexual or gender identity, should be respected and treated like an individual, and this will never happen unless we challenge conventional standards of sexuality and gender. Safe, consensual sexual practices should not be something unmentionable, shame-inspiring, or controversial.

Another important step in making Harvard a more accepting place is educating students about issues of importance to the queer community. Bringing in speakers like Colonel Margarethe Cammermeyer, holding a panel about queer related senior theses, and co-sponsoring a workshop on sexual violence in BGLTQ communities are all events that we hope will empower students to engage in the issues that they care about. This is especially important given the quickly changing nature of laws and campus policies regarding queer issues.

Despite the appearances, we are concerned with charges of radicalism: not because we don’t want to be “radical,” but because we care about issues that aren’t considered radical too. Our less “radical” events also tend to be our less noticed events, however, and from the way our critics portray us, you might be surprised to find out about our Same-Sex Marriage Panel or our Supporter Appreciation Event. Nevertheless, queer issues of national importance also resonate at Harvard, and we try our best to address those issues.

We’re certainly not trying to claim that our Gaypril line-up is perfect, nor do we expect every event to please everybody. This will have been a successful Gaypril if, at the end of the month, supporters know how much we value their support, and all students will have had a forum in which they could feel proud of their sexuality and gender. Have a wonderful Gaypril, and we hope to see you around.

Michael A. Feldstein ’07, a Crimson editorial editor, is a Social Studies concentrator in Mather House. He is the public relations chair of the BGLTSA.