Queer Community Seeks Support

Freshman Week is a time when undergraduates begin to understand how Harvard functions as a college and a social space. Eager to make friends and meet others, freshmen scurry from ice cream socials to faculty panels to organizations’ introductory meetings. Sex Signals—a mandatory seminar on sexual harassment and consensual sex—is one such staple activity.

But some say that Sex Signals does not simply represent freshmen’s introduction to consent. Rather, the seminar is the first in a line of many Harvard traditions, both formal and informal, that highlight the College’s unconscious bias towards heterosexual students, known as heterosexism in the field of gender theory.

Sex Signals, a show of improvisational comedy presented by a man and a woman, deals primarily with ‘signals’ sent between a heterosexual couple.

The College does offer a same sex variety of Sex Signals. But, as the seminar is required, students must go through the extra hurdle of explaining to their proctor why they will not be attending ‘regular’ Sex Signals—a situation that some say could be particularly awkward if a student has not yet come to terms with his or her sexuality.

Only twenty or so students—out of a class of over 1,600—attended same sex Sex Signals last year, according to Queer Students and Allies Co-Chair Emma Q. Wang ’12. As a freshman, Wang says she was not even aware of the same sex seminar.

Furthermore, while ‘Straight Sex Signals’ is held in a massive auditorium in the Science Center, ‘Gay Sex Signals’ is tucked away in a small room in the Holyoke Center—leading some students to say that though Harvard has made significant strides in the recent past, the University still has not fully integrated its straight and gay communities.

“Sex signals should be integrated, because in reality sexuality is very fluid, and anyone could be dealing with a same sex harassment issue or opposite sex at any time regardless of  their sexual orientation,” Nicole K. Poteat ’11 says.

But the issues that some members of the gay community say the Sex Signals performance bring to the fore do not end Freshmen Week, with some queer students noting that Harvard’s unconscious bias against many members of its community is salient in their daily lives.

“[Heterosexism is] just a less aggressive form of intolerance,” says Carolyn W. Chou ’13, who is not active in the QSA but is involved in social justice initiatives on campus.

Some queer undergraduates say that they would like to see a Harvard where the student body and the administration consciously work toward full cohesion between the straight and gay communities.

“There’s a difference between tolerance, which is passive, and acceptance, which is active,” Chou says.

A CULTURAL DIVIDE

Some point to the paucity of straight allies participating in the QSA to indicate the College’s lack of true integration. In the past few years the group’s board members have included only a handful of straight allies, according to Wang.

“Heterosexism is subtle enough. If it doesn’t feel like an assault on your own identity, it’s hard to recognize it on a day to day basis,” Chou says, proposing an explanation for the lack of vocal allies on campus.

The QSA’s social functions are poorly attended by straight supporters, according to Wang. She says that she hopes to bolster the number of active allies in the QSA by holding several events specifically targeting allies.

But Brandon T. Perkovich ’11, a gay student who was active in the First-Year Urban Program and H-Bomb Magazine, says that there are many supportive allies on campus and that it is unreasonable to expect them to “wear a rainbow flag all the time.”

However, he adds that does not mean allies should stand by and remain quiet when they hear homophobic comments made by others.

“They need to have the courage—allies are uniquely positioned to affect a change by calling people out,” Perkovich says, noting that this does not happen as often as it should.

Some queer students note that integration between the gay and straight communities at Harvard will only come about through significant changes in social life at the College.

Poteat, an openly gay Eliot House resident, says that during her four years at Harvard, she often felt uncomfortable or not fully “accepted” in certain contexts because of her sexual identity. Often social traditions, particularly date functions organized between single-sex organizations, can feel particularly exclusive, she says.

“In other groups [besides varsity rugby] I’ve participated in, the social life consists of going to final clubs and getting guys,” Poteat says. “A sort of spoken intolerance exists by way of not including people who aren’t interested in that. The dominant social scene is not inclusive of anyone who is not heterosexual.”

Wang echoes these sentiments, saying that she believes that some students chose to stay in the closet at Harvard because they feel they will not be actively embraced in their social circles.

“It’s a two-way dance,” Wang says. “We live in a heteronormative society, and for some individuals it’s better to cover and not to risk coming out in an environment that might not accept queerness.”

Though Wang says that she has not experienced conscious outright discrimination herself, Perkovich says that he has been called “faggot” at Harvard more frequently than anywhere else.

“I have been called ‘faggot’ in a really disparaging way here at Harvard,” Perkovich says. “Even more so than in my very conservative hometown in Florida.”

But unconscious bias against queer students is not confined to social settings, some members of the gay community say, noting that it can seep into the classroom. Many say that few classes besides those offered by the Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality department deal with issues of gender and sexuality.

Chou recalls that a teaching fellow once made an insensitive joke in a section comprised solely of women that suggested all the women were interested in men.

A course on inequality included little discussion of sexuality­—or at least not until Wang approached her professor asking if she could write a paper dealing with issues of sexuality, she says.

“We talked about race and gender, but not once did we talk about sexuality,” Wang says. “LGBT issues really aren’t discussed outside of WGS.”

Poteat remembers a similar experience in a class she took that focused on the television show The Wire. The instructor discussed issues of race and class as they are highlighted in the show, but Poteat says she felt that while sexuality was touched on, it did not get the attention it deserved.

She says she did not feel comfortable raising the topic because she did not “want to be that token lesbian raising the issue.” “I just kept my mouth shut,” she says.

“There’s this idea here, and in the U.S. and the rest of the world, that gay things only matter to gay people,” Wang adds. “Heterosexism can range from crushing ignorance to sometimes well-intentioned ignorance.”

WORKING TOWARDS ACCEPTANCE

Queer students say that the lack of full integration at Harvard is not unique to the University.

“Again [heterosexism is] something that’s a national trend, but Harvard doesn’t do enough to counter it,” Poteat adds.

But College administrators say that their data indicates otherwise. After having concluded a year-long analysis of attitudes in the Harvard community toward queer issues, the GLBTQ Task Force concluded that the College has created a largely friendly environment for its queer population.

“What we learned is that this a very welcoming and inclusive place, but there was a recommendation that we made some improvements in these areas,” Dean of Student Life Suzy M. Nelson says.

To address students’ concern that sexuality is often ignored in the classroom, Nelson says the administration will encourage more classes to include material on the issue.

The Task Force’s report, released last month, recommended that the College establish a more visible LGBTQ resource center with a full-time staffer. The administration immediately acted upon this and the Queer Resource Center—currently located in a closet-like space in the basement of Thayer Hall and run by students—will be located in Boylston Hall and staffed by a full-time administrator next year.

Though the center could possibly further sequester some of the College’s gay population away from the rest of the student body, Poteat says that this center is necessary for queer students on campus.

“To say that greater queer visibility is going to polarize the queer community is to take for granted the heterosexism on campus,” Perkovich says.

Despite the challenges that queer students say they face on campus, they note that they are not without hope for the future.

“I think that allies are finding it hard to have a voice in LGBT issues,” says Wang. “Many are still trying to find a voice. Without institutional support there is a sense that vocalization is exceptional and unique, but I was heartened by the incoming class.”

She adds that the QSA introductory meeting “had an astounding attendance at prefrosh weekend from people who were there just supporting.”

—Staff writer Tara W. Merrigan can be reached at tmerrigan@college.harvard.edu.