BGLTSA

When Mather House resident tutor K. Kyriell Muhammad was a victim of repeated acts of homophobic vandalism earlier this year, the Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Transgender and Supporters' Alliance (BGLTSA) contacted journalists at The New York Times and The Boston Globe.

Press coverage was all lined up when, as BGLTSA Co-Chair Michael K. T. Tan '01 recounts it, Muhammad pulled the plug, saying he didn't want his situation publicized nationally.

"Just think of the headline: 'Gay tutor forced to resign because of Harvard homophobia,'" Tan says. "The BGLTSA would have been right there to say 'Gay students at Harvard think et cetera, et cetera...'"

BGLTSA leaders say visibility is important for the student group. One of the organization's most consistent strategies, dating back to its inception in the 1970s, has been to make gay and lesbian life as visible as possible on Harvard's campus. It's a strategy that holds that familiarity breeds acceptance.

But the image of gay unity that the group aims to foster can be illusory, board members say. The group increasingly has trouble attracting active members and has tempered its trademark outspokenness in recent months to appeal to a wider portion of the gay community at Harvard.

Dwindling Numbers

While BGLTSA's mailing list, the official gauge of its membership, includes about 500 students, this year's executive board was installed without a single vote being cast. So few students ran for spots on BGLTSA's board this fall that no position was contested.

Elections to BGLTSA's board have generally been competitive in the past, board members say, and some are concerned that they may not be able to fill all the vacant seats this spring.

"We're only 11 people and we can't do everything," says Jeffrey P. Morgan '02, who is a member of BGLTSA's executive board. "It's very difficult for us to continue with these issues when it seems like no one else cares."

By all estimations, the group's active members are almost entirely male and almost entirely white.

And board members acknowledge this hinders the group's effectiveness.

"We can speak for the gay community to the extent, and only to the extent that our members participate," says Daniel Tremitiere '03, vice chair of the group.

Board members say that BGLTSA leaders typically have more forceful ideological commitments on issues surrounding gay life at Harvard than the gay community at large. The most interested become the most involved.

"They're gay and they're activists," Kevin A. Shapiro '00, who is a former editor of The Salient, says of the BGLTSA board. "Those things are eminently separable. You don't have to do both."

Community and Organization

The group has landed in hot water when members felt it spoke inappropriately on behalf of the entire gay community.

When members of BGLTSA met to make posters for National Coming out Day in October, over 30 students showed up in the Adams House small dining room, armed with glue sticks, construction paper, and magazine clippings.

One of the resulting posters asked students whether they had "ever tasted their own menstrual fluid," and another noted that "every tenth Jesus is gay."

Although the most controversial posters were made by a small minority of those present, BGLTSA drew protests that eventually led to the creation of a new gay social group, Beyond Our Normal Difference (BOND), which eschews political issues.

Last Thursday, six months after the poster controversy, BGLTSA met to make posters for Gay Pride Month. This time, only six students, and less than half of the organization's executive board, showed up.

Tomorrow, their posters will be plastered around campus, and the Harvard community at large will be aware of "Gaypril" largely through the lens of the six students present in the Adams small dining hall Saturday night.

"[BGLTSA] always has the same 10 people doing the posters, and these people have similar ideas about how these issues should be selected," says Jim C. Augustine '01.

But despite its small active membership, BGLTSA remains the most prominent voice of gay students on campus.

For example, there have been 49 references to the organization in The Crimson in the past year alone.

"When you tag the name BGLTSA to something, there's a notion of collective voice [in the gay community]," Tan says. "But we're not as representative as we claim to be."

"Because we're known as the official LGBT group of the College, people listen," Tan adds.

Administrators acknowledge the group's campus significance, as well.

"They're very large, and they've got the history behind them," agrees Assistant Dean of the College Karen E. Avery '87. "They've been very effective."

At times, however, BGLTSA has presumed too much.

BGLTSA listed Cornerstone and BAGELS, the campus groups for gay Christians and Jews, respectively, as co-sponsors of December's march against homophobia without consulting them first.

The groups protested, said Morgan, who is also the coordinator of Cornerstone, because of concerns about the BGLTSA's controversial postering campaign. After BGLTSA board members agreed to tone down the posters for the event, Bagels and Cornerstone dropped their objections.

"A lot of people confuse the BGLTSA with the larger gay community, and sometimes we do too," Morgan says.

Treading Lightly

But despite BGLTSA's recent efforts to moderate its tone, the organization is still feeling the fallout from last October's postering campaign.

"The backlash against the posters and the creation of bond was really a wakeup call," Morgan says. "Are we fulfilling the role we should be fulfilling? Is BOND doing it better?"

The organization is now far more wary of articulating opinions that might not have broad consensus in the gay community. The BGLTSA has even stopped short of endorsing gay marriage, out of concern that some members might not support the measure.

At Thursday night's poster making session, a sign hanging on the wall laid out newly minted ground rules: "No making fun of religion" topped the list.

The key to the postering campaign, said Michael A. Hill '02, was to be "eye catching but not offensive," and he urged members to make use of statistics--such as the fact that a gay teenager is three times as likely as a straight one to commit suicide.

At one point, Lee-Sean Huang '02 clipped a cartoon drawing of two girls masturbating and pasted it onto his poster. After some thought, he made a concession.

"I'm blocking out the nipples for coy Americans," said Huang, drawing over them with black, felt-tipped marker.

In contrast to last fall, where the organization didn't exercise any control over the material displayed in its name, this year posters will require approval. And Hill says Huang's poster will likely not make the cut, even with the modifications.

Looking Back and Ahead

Augustine says when he encountered an incident of homophobia, the BGLTSA was there to help him--tell him his options, and recommend a course of action.

Although he says the group is "not a high priority" for him, and feels it does not represent all gay students at Harvard, he says more important things are at stake.

"Whether they are representing me, and my white, gay, ex-catholic, theater self, is not as important as the fact that they're there," he says. "This is an organization that can mobilize to support students on campus."

In the early 1980s, BGLTSA's activism was largely directed towards convincing a recalcitrant college administration to add sexual orientation to Harvard's non-discrimination policy.

"It took a lot of persistence," says Paul F. Perkovic '71. "Sometimes you bang your head against a wall long enough, and all of a sudden someone makes your change in the next version of a publication, and next thing you know it's policy."

Robert W. Mack '71, a former co-chair of the Open Gate, the organization for gay Harvard alumni, says that as recently as five years ago, BGLTSA was surprisingly bold in its dealings with the college administration.

Mack recounted that there was concern among gay students that randomization would break up gay communities in Adams and Mather Houses, destroying the critical mass of students that created a safe space for other students to come out of the closet.

To create an alternative safe space for gay students, Josh Oppenheimer, one of BGLTSA's co-chairs at the time, requested space from former Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III.

"Dean Epps said 'If I don't give you this space, you're going to come in and take over my office, aren't you?' and Josh said 'Yes,'" Mack says.

But in many ways, the organization's success in combating homophobia has now given it to a much less central role in the gay community.

"We're in a difficult time now," says Tan. "Certain segments of the [gay] community can be safe, and so are not interested in working for change."

With most gay students on campus feeling relatively safe and comfortable despite a string of homophobic incidents on campus earlier this year, BGLTSA is seeing support for its political activism fading away. At the same time, another organization--BOND--is solidifying its control of organized social activities for gay students.

BOND's social events--usually parties or trips to clubs in Boston--consistently draw around 60 students.

The BGLTSA's weekly board meetings, which Perkovic said used to be social events themselves and generally drew 20 to 30 students, now usually attract only board members.

Yet despite the small size of the meetings, Alex A. Boni-Saenz '01, one of the co-founders of BOND, says they have profound consequences for the way the gay community is perceived at Harvard.

"As the most visible and central voice, they will be taken as the gay community," he says.