Monday, May 3,1993
The Battalion
Page 3
M ay 3,1993
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Stereotypes
Continued from Page 1
mates, teachers, co-workers and
friends. Many gay Aggies feel
they can be gay and still love the
traditions of A&M. They do that
best by telling their stories them
selves.
Jimmy
Jimmy is a tenured professor in
the Department of Geology. While
his accent betrays that he is a New
Yorker, it doesn't suggest that he
is gay. His office doesn't either,
with the exception of the obscene
messages left on his answering
machine. Jimmy is one of the first
two openly gay faculty advisers to
GLSS, and he says putting up with
obscene phone calls is just another
part of the job.
Jimmy is more tolerant of such
calls because he feels they only re
flect the insecurities of 18- and 19-
year-old boys.
"Young boys especially are un
der a lot of peer pressure from the
culture that they live in," he said.
"They're expected to be very mas-
"As a faculty member
I've found that my col
leagues both in the ge
ology department and
in other places have
no problem dealing
with me."
-Jimmy
geology professor
culine and very sexual at a young
age."
Jimmy said many young stu
dents here still are uncertain of
their own sexuality because they
haven't practiced it yet.
"With all of these insecurities
developing, it really seems natural
for them to target gays as a re
sult," he said.
Jimmy said aside from the oc
casional obscene phone calls, be
ing openly gay at Texas A&M is a
positive experience that doesn't
interfere with his job.
"As a faculty member I've
found that my colleagues both in
the geology department and in
other places have no problem
dealing with me," he said.
"Last year I won the Distin
guished Teaching Award and my
dean made sure that my spouse
was there when it was presented,"
Jimmy said. "It wms a surprise to
me and it was a surprise to see
him there."
In addition to being a profes
sor, Jimmy is a faculty senator and
an adviser for his department. He
said that people in those situations
often learn he is gay before they
really get to know him. People can
be uncomfortable at first, he said,
but they tend to relax when they
discover that he keeps his private
and professional lives separate
! just like everyone else.
"They find out that I'm all busi
ness here, and the gayness doesn't
enter into our relationship at all,"
he said.
The trade-off for Jimmy be
tween losing some students to ho
mophobia is that many minority
students come to him hoping that
he willibe sensitive to their needs.
Jimmy's open attitude, despite
what it may cost him, is part of his
dedication to making the campus
safe for everyone. Until that dedi
cation spreads to the rest of the
campus, he says he's settling for
second best.
Stacey
Stacey is a freshman engineer
ing major who works toward ac
ceptance of gays on campus in the
same way Jimmy does - she is
openly gay.
She came out to her hall last se
mester after someone vandalized
a display on her door of paper
freedom rings (a chain of five dif
ferent colored rings that symbol
ize diversity and gay pride). When
the display was ripped down and
someone scrawled and misspelled
"dyke" on her door, she asked her
resident adviser to call a hall
meeting to calm tensions. The ex
perience, she said, turned out to
be a positive one.
"Some people have an adverse
reaction to it, but they're more
quiet about it," she said. "They
just quietly turn around and walk
the other way, or go upstairs, or
avert their eyes, or whatever.
Most people admire me in my
courage to say, 'Yes, I'm Stacey,
and I'm a lesbian.'"
She said not everyone's reac
tion to her openness has been ad
miration. One man contacted her
on the campus computers and
wanted to meet her after reading a
personality profile that mentioned
she is a lesbian.
"It was about an hour and a
half of nothing but his Bible in his
hands, in my face - shaking his
Bible in my face and pointing out
verses, reading them to me, saying
'How can you do this?,'" she said.
"It was miserable. I tried to retain
my composure because the object
is not to get mad and attack right
back. People have more respect
for your opinions if you're calm.
He still doesn't agree with me. I
will never forget that man."
Tammy
Most people - including other
gays - are surprised to discover
that Tammy, with her long hair
and makeup, is a lesbian. Tammy
is now out to most of her friends
and said the experience has been a
mixed one. Because of that experi
ence, she is more hesitant than
many of her friends to wear gay
pride symbols.
"I wouldn't be me," she said.
"It's not so much the criticism - I
can take the criticism - it's just
that I don't know what would
happen to me here. Because you
go from people that are open-
minded to some hick around the
corner that might beat the shit out
of you," she said and laughed.
"And I'd be the one!"
"When I told one girl, the first
thing she did was get on the
phone and tell all my friends,"
Tammy said. "I lost a whole
bunch of friends through that.
"When I told one girl
(I was gay), the first
thing she did was get
on the phone and tell
all my friends. I lost a
whole bunch of
friends through that."
-Tammy
A&M student
The guys were OK - they said just
get a woman and we'll watch!
And I was like, well . . . no, no, no.
But 1 lost a lot of friends, and I
thought that they were really, re
ally my good friends, and they
just said, ^See ya!'"
Tammy said she is offended by
the stereotyping of lesbians as
masculine and aggressive. Like
many other gays and lesbians, she
greets gay jokes and terms like
"dyke" with a sense of humor, but
says that many of those stereo
types are not joking ones and con
tribute to the fear of gays.
"My question at the panels is
always, always, always, 'If you
met the guy of your dreams,
would you date him?' And 1 want
to ask, "Do you not understand
the concept?'" she said. "Just be
cause I do my hair and wear
makeup does not mean that I
would date a guy if he was the
guy of my dreams. I'd hang him
on the wall, but I wouldn't sleep
with him! You know, but if I don't
look it, maybe people will think
twice.
"It's not a big deal," she said.
"It's not so devastating that life
can't go on. Honestly, it's every
day life for us. We go about every
day things the same way. I don't
think it should be a ruling aspect
of your life. I don't think that the
stereotypical dyke, lesbian, fag
thing really exists. It's so amazing
how different people are just with
in the gay community. They're
just as varied as the straight com
munity. It has nothing to do with
who you are."
Brent
Brent (not his real name) is a
freshman computer science major
who will be an officer in GLSS
next year. Perhaps the most obvi
ous thing about his homosexuality
is how unobvious it is.
Because he has not come out to
his family, he wishes to remain
relatively anonymous. More than
that, however, he says that being
gay shouldn't matter to anyone.
He is somewhat open, he said, to
help that happen.
For Brent and his roommate,
homosexuality is not an issue.
"I was lucky," he said. "1 went
potluck and we got along really
well. After a couple of weeks, in
stead of lying to him about where
I was going and who I was seeing,
I came out and told him; and he
didn't even bat an eyelash. We've
been good friends ever since. It's
really iffy because we're both guys
so there s no curfew and nobody
cares if you bring guys back to
your room. You have to be careful
to respect your roommate."
Brent often wears freedom
rings, and said their meaning can
come as a shock to other people.
One memory stood out:
"To most of them it wasn't a
big shock, but I saw one or two of
the girls - their eyes just got real,
real big. That's kinda good in a
way, too, because maybe next time
they meet a gay person their eyes
won't get so big," he said.
Brent said his Aggie pride is a
much bigger part of him than be
ing gay. "People ask me why I
came to A&M," he said. "It's be
cause I like A&M; I like the Aggie
Spirit and I like the traditions and
I like the games. I like whooping
behind upperclassmen's backs.
I'm an Aggie and I'm a gay Aggie.
I'm not out to change anything
and I don't think it's that big a
deal. If people could just one day
wake up and realize that it doesn t
really make a difference . . . that
would be all I was looking for."
Dawn
Dawn is a freshman architec
ture major who next year will be
the youngest president ever elect
ed to GLSS. She describes herself
as disgustingly happy and says
she comes from a "Brady Bunch"
family. Although her family sup
ports her, her early friends on
campus did not.
"I came out to my roommate
before I moved in, which 1
thought was plenty fair," she said.
"She said it didn't matter."
Dawn said their friendship was
great until she wore gay pride
shirts during Gay Awareness
Week. One of her suitemates was
so upset that the woman's father
called the dean of her college. All
four of the women later sat down
and discussed the issue, but it re
mained so tense between them
that Dawn moved off-campus at
semester break.
"Their biggest complaint about
me was that I wore gay T-shirts,"
she said. "I don't think me being
gay was really a problem; it was
when I started to have pride in it
that it bothered them. I still, to this
day, am hurt by it, and I still don't
understand what happened. My
roommate and I were good
friends ... it still hurts.
"We never said goodbye and
we never spoke after that," she
said. "Now she's dropped off the
face of the earth. I can't find her;
SUMMER GO-OP STUDENTS
fWE fo.
aiSSLwMW
C
Office
for Summer
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course
r TONIGHT
WT May 3. 1993
MANDATORY MEETING
(You will be blocked for not attending)
Memorial Student Center
Room 201
Q-nn n.m.
"Yeah, I have a real
problem with fags.
Thank God my girl
friend doesn't!"
-Dawn, freshman
architecture major
I've tried. I've got some of her
stuff I'd like to give back to her. I
don't want to hound her; I just
want to find her and see how she's
doing, see if she's still with the
same guy. But she doesn't want to
be found."
Despite her soured relationship
with her roommate. Dawn said
that being gay at A&M is a good
experience - and often a funny
one. Perhaps more than any of her
friends. Dawn sees the humor of
other people's misconceptions
about gays and lesbians — and
she uses it.
"One time I was in a classroom
- where most of the class knew I
was gay and some didn't - with
two or three Corps guys and they
were talking about gays in the
military and 'those damn
fags/"she said. "It was a three-
hour class and I kept my mouth
shut a good hour and a half.
Everybody would walk by me and
laugh at them; they were putting
their foot in their mouth pretty
bad. Finally I said, 'Yeah, I have a
real problem with fags. Thank
God my girlfriend doesn't!' It was
really wonderful.
"But most of my experiences on
this campus have been good," she
said. "I've met so many wonderful
people through our group and
through people who are gay-posi
tive. The phrase, 'You may be a
gay Aggie, but you're still an Ag
gie,' has come up more times than
1 can count. I've had people tell
me that this campus is a family
and it doesn't matter what or who
you are.
"I think your sexuality should
be something that doesn't matter,"
she said. "How often do you dis
cuss who you're having sex with?
Why should it be an issue? If I'm
a computer engineer, if I'm sitting
behind a computer — my comput
er doesn't care if Tm gay. If I'm an
architect I'll build the same house
whether I'm gay or straight."
Kim
Kim is the current president of
GLSS as well as a former member
of the Corps of Cadets.
"I feel I've made a difference
for people in GLSS to feel proud,
to feel welcome, to feel OK," she
said. "I've made a difference for
myself and for the community to
see that we can be recognized by
the paper, we can be recognized
by the TV, we can be recognized
by the umversity, and that it's not
forced; it's by invitation."
"I'd like to see a compromise,"
"I feel Tve made a dif
ference for people in
GLSS to feel proud, to
feel welcome, to feel
OK."
-Kim
GLSS president
she said. "That's what I've found
to be most successful in this past
year. As a gay person, I can com
promise with the people I interact
with because we have to share . . .
We have to be not so hostile.
There needs to be mutual respect."
Kim said part of that respect is
being sensitive to people who
have never met an openly gay per
son. That sensitivity, she said, will
help others to be open-minded.
"Then they can make their own
judgments."
• Tuesday: Part 2 - Relationships
and religion.
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COLLEGE STATION
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TAMU Santa Chiara
Da q 1993
MAY 5, 11:00-3:00
MSC Foyer
Presenting the
Century Singers
at 11:45
Study Abroad Programs; 161 Bizzell Hall West; 845-0544
TAMU Santa CT iara
Daij 1993
MAY 5, 11:00-3:00, MSC Foyer
Hosted by Dr. E. Dean Gage, Vice
President and Provost
11:00
12:00
FREE Food provided by Double Dave's
Pizza, with a pizza-making demo
12:00
1:00
Dr. Gage speaks; Art Auction of
works by Prof. Paolo Barucchieri,
Dir. Santa Chiara (Proceeds to go
directly to Santa Chiara Center)
n
1:00
3:00
FREE Samples of Espresso provided
by Espresso Plus, and drawings for ^
free dinners at Rosalie's Pasta and m
Cenare
Double Dave's Pizza
Espresso Plus in the
Rosalie's Pasta
Cenare
211 University W.
Postoak Mall
102 Church Ave.
404 University E.
268-DAVE
764-0815
846-0950
696-7311
Study Abroad Programs; 161 Bizzell Hall West; 845-0544
MAY GRADS
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Grad Program. As a new member, you will receive a gift and your
first year's membership free. This program includes priority
seating at Aggie football games, donor card, game program
recognition, the Sports Hotline newsletter, a decal, and a lapel pin.
For more information and to pick up your free gift, please stop by
our table in the MSC, April 27, 28, 29 and May 3, 4, 5, or come by
the 12th Man Foundation office. Room 109 Student Services
Building. So remember, if you would like to keep up with Aggie
athletics, get involved with the 12th Man Foundation.
SUPPORTING EDUCATION THROUGH ATHLETICS