After Shepard's Death, Masters Reaffirm Need for Tolerance

After the death of Matthew Shepard, Harvard's House masters responded quickly last week to reassure members of the gay community that the College is a safe place to be out of the closet.

But community leaders said they were disappointed that it takes a death to bring attention to gay rights.

Shepard, an openly gay student at the University of Wyoming, died last Monday after an attack that police said was motivated at least in part by his sexuality.

On the day of Shepard's death, Lowell House Co-Masters Dorothy A. Austin and Diana L. Eck had the House bells rung 22 times.

The masters and co-masters of Harvard's 13 Houses wrote a letter to The Crimson, published yesterday, in which they committed themselves to supporting "the principles of tolerance and mutual respect" that apply to everyone, regardless of sexual orientation.

"I think that we're mostly concerned about the impact it might have on gay students here [at Harvard]," said William Graham, master of Currier House and professor of the history of religion and Islamic studies.

And early last Tuesday morning, Howard Georgi '67-'68, master of Leverett House, sent an e-mail message to Leverett residents urging them to make theirs a House of tolerance.

"I was deeply saddened today by the death of Matthew Shepard," Georgi wrote. "We can redouble our efforts to ensure that Leverett House is a place where different people...can join together as a family, in mutual respect and affection."

Leaders of the gay community said the death served as a lesson that discrimination is a reality.

"It reminds us of daily fear that people live with where it is still permissible to discriminate," said Ann Pellegrini '86, an assistant professor of English and American literature and language who teaches English 197, "Introduction to Lesbian and Gay Studies."

But some said they were disappointed that a martyr is needed to act as that reminder.

"The fact that the only time this country seems to take notice of the discrimination gay people face is when a tragedy like this occurs is, in my opinion, a tragedy in itself," said Seth J. Persily, former co-chair of Lambda, an organization of queer students at the Law School.

Nicole L. Deblosi '99, co-chair of the Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Transgender and Supporters' Alliance (BGLTSA) agreed.

"I'm sort of disappointed in how other people have reacted to this," she said.

The BGLTSA took action on National Coming Out Day last Tuesday, accepting donations for a Matthew Shepard fund and urging people to write to members of Congress to support hate crimes legislation, now pending.

"Congress this summer is as anti-gay as I've seen it in my lifetime," said Adam A. Sofen '01, co-chair of the BGLTSA who is also a Crimson editor. "You cannot divorce what happens in Washington and the media from what happens in Wyoming."

Sofen warned that events like Shepard's assault don't just happen in Wyoming.

"I would not be shocked if it happened in Cambridge," he said.

--Jared S. Wasserman contributed to the reporting of this article.