Out for the Day

Dickinson hosts Gay-Straight Alliance Leadership Summit

March 3, 2009

Paula Lima, director of the Office of Diversity Initiatives, leads the discussion during the final session of the GSA Summit.

Has the on-campus climate for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students, faculty and staff improved over the years? According to participants at the Feb. 26 Gay-Straight Alliance Leadership Summit and Common Hour, the answer is a resounding "yes."

Co-sponsored by the Office of Diversity Initiatives and the LGBT Community Center Coalition of Central Pennsylvania, the summit offered a full day of workshops and speakers for approximately 140 high-school and college students and faculty from the region.

"We became involved because we felt that we needed to advocate and be seen as an important resource for the LGBT community," said Paula Lima, director of the Office of Diversity Initiatives.

Queer at Dickinson: Past, Present and Future, the Common Hour theme tied to the summit, featured a panel of alumni and students sharing their coming-out stories to a packed house in Rubendall Recital Hall. Moderator Lonna Malmsheimer, professor emerita of American studies, opened with the news that recent surveys ranked Dickinson among the nation's most gay-friendly colleges, along with Haverford, Kenyon and Emerson colleges.

Ted Martin '87, David Glasgow '93, Genea Thomas '08, Matthew Morowitz '11 and Gaven Trinidad '12 recounted their experiences of homophobia in society at large and at Dickinson. They pointed out, though, that the positive responses—from students, alumni, faculty and staff—outweighed the negative.

According to Malmsheimer, the '90s saw the first student organization, Gays & Lesbians at Dickinson (GLAD), as well as the board of trustees voting in 1995 to offer domestic-partner benefits to faculty and staff. GLAD, which eventually became Allies, was instrumental in advocating for those benefits. Today, as Spectrum, the student group continues to promote LGBT issues on campus.

"We're bridging that gap to the point where being gay is a non-issue," said Glasgow, contributing faculty in piano and accompanist for the Dickinson College Choir.

Joy Verner, assistant to the dean of students, credited the leadership of "out" students with helping her to come out herself when she worked at Dickinson in the 1990s. "If they can have that much courage, then I have to speak up," she said.

LGBT support at Dickinson has evolved through the years, according to participants at Common Hour and the summit.

"In my 15 years here, this is the first strong public statement by Dickinson supporting the LGBT community," said Paul Richards, head swimming coach and director of aquatics. Richards, a panelist for the summit workshop Allies & Advocacy 101, spoke about the need to reach out to LGBT student-athletes, who often feel isolated.

He recently spoke at a meeting held by Penn Athletes Tackling Homophobia (PATH), an LGBT student-athlete organization at the University of Pennsylvania. "A lot of people don't want to be in the limelight," he added. "It's a tough road [for LGBT athletes]. We need education, role models, zero tolerance."

Grace Perry '11 also spoke as a panelist at the Allies & Advocacy 101 session. As a certified rape-crisis counselor and member of the Assault & Sexuality Coalition at Dickinson, Perry focuses on working together to "create lasting change. Sexual violence will not go away if homophobia still exists," she said.

Moderating the panel was Susannah Bartlow, director of the Women's Center, who was impressed by the commitment of the college community. "Hosting the summit really highlights the acceptance and creativity of the Office of Diversity Initiatives," she said. "Paula does an outstanding job of expanding what diversity means."

Megan Yost, assistant professor of psychology and advisor to Spectrum, was the primary link between Dickinson and the LGBT Community Center, based out of Harrisburg. A volunteer for Common Roads, the youth-programming arm of the center, Yost suggested bringing the summit to Dickinson and worked closely with Lima to plan the workshops and Common Hour.

She also co-led one of the more popular summit workshops, Queer, Bi & Fluid, with Laura Grappo, instructor in American studies, who is teaching Introduction to Queer Studies this semester.

"This was a positive step just by raising awareness," Yost said. "It can be very scary for students to tell people what it's like to be LGBT. It's so important to see that level of support for all students, regardless of sexual orientation."