The Tripod

There is no real way to end homophobia completely, but can one make Trinity as accepting as other schools for students of all sexual preferences? The administration and many students are trying to make a change in the school, but from the view of a new student they are going about it the wrong way.

Trinity's new student orientation attempted to unify the Class of 2011, but it failed to directly address the administration's problems with the non accepting atmosphere for some students. I felt at home the first day, but every day I hear someone say demeaning things about homosexuals and I feel uncomfortable. The first day, during the "In the Dark" performance one speaker said there is no point in trying to stop students from saying "that's gay" or other demeaning words because no one will stop saying words like "fag," but this attitude stops Trinity from being a more accepting place. The little offensive comments add up making bigger problems more acceptable. To stop problems from occurring Trinity students need to change the campus culture.

No one can deny Trinity has a problem with usage of the words "fag" and "gay." It creates a culture where people comfortably say offensive things. I can think of at least three people who profess to discomfort from living with a potentially homosexual roommate because they think the roommate plans to grope them in the middle of the night. Honestly if your roommate plans to rape you or suck your toes you have much bigger problems than their sexual preference. One girl I know offered to be quoted as saying, "she's glad I'm not a lesbian." I feel uncomfortable because I never have heard people constantly say offensive things about the GLBT community. There is just something tacky about saying that's "so gay" or calling someone a "fag." There is nothing offensive about being gay, so people use it in numerous situations where they cannot think of better insults. People say gay as if it is a bad thing to be, but used correctly is not at all offensive. One of my high school friends admitted to me while writing this article that she loves being gay and would not be offended if that is what you called her.

When I entered high school, on the first day we were told nobody says "that's so gay," and so by the end of freshman year nobody said it. This sounds tiny, but it makes the campus more open to other types of people and does not give one person the belief that bigotry is acceptable. My high school allowed an open gay-straight alliance just a few years before I started going there, but because people had changed their speech and attitudes, the school could openly discuss its policy for catching lesbian students in sexual acts without coming out to the kid's parents; a sticky situation only afforded at an accepting all girls boarding school.

The first few days here, I heard whispers of hateful incidents involving racism and homophobia in years past at Trinity, but no one would say what happened. The trouble with Trinity is no one discusses the problems openly. It seems the school does not want the Class of 2011 to discriminate against different types of people, but letting our class know what is not okay can change the way we interact with each other. We so often seek to punish a perpetrator of hate without learning from the experience. I know there were open discussions about racism after some incidents of hate last year, but that type of discussion should not end abruptly. Entering Trinity we come from different places and have different ideas of what is right and wrong, but while here we seek to become the person beyond our parents' realm. Not all Trinity students mean to make others uncomfortable by saying derogatory comments, such as "you are a fag," but not discussing the problem with saying these things prevents anyone from knowing how it may make others feel. Writing this article I do not mean to target anyone, but to make everyone see that combating the problems with homophobia at Trinity cannot be achieved without speaking up.

Readers might wonder what I am doing to change Trinity's culture. For one I do not say things like "that's so gay," but other than that nothing. That is the importance of writing this article. I never say anything when people say demeaning things, but I should say something. Others should say something because it is only when the whole campus seeks to end Trinity's homophobic tendencies that the school will change.

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