Wrapping up Fall 07

Thanks to all that have worked so hard, we've had a great semester with lots of new ideas, initiatives and programs.

For reoccurring events, National coming out week (NCOW) was a great success again this year.

New events this semester was speaker Dan Savage, internationally syndicated sex columnist come speak in the Heights Room--very fun and had a great turnout.

Also new this semester, continuing on in the spring is the Catholic lecture series--talks cosponsored by GLC and the Theology department to help initiate the much needed conversations about sexuality and how it relates to us as students at a Catholic school, as well as in our own lives.

For the Love Your Body Campaign put on by the WRC, we held a discussion led by Lisa Cuklanz of the Communications department about beauty in the LGBT community.

Several social events were kicked off, including a games night in O'Connell House, a Gingerbread Social held in Eagle's Nest, and an Open-Mic night at French Press Cafe.

Starting next semester are the grand revamps of both Allies and Lambda--lots of events in store for both groups, as well as GLC. Look for our table in McElroy in January to find out more! Plus, grab a rainbow ribbon to show your support!

Have a great break! See you next year!

Catholic Lecture series--Virtue & Sexual Ethics

Come join us for the second session of the Catholic Lecture series, sponsored by GLC & Allies. Fr. Jim Keenan will be presenting on Catholic Virtue ethics and how that relates to Sexual Ethics.

Wednesday, Dec. 5th
7:30pm
Gasson Honors Library (Gasson 112)

Hate-crime protocol

BC's hate crime protocol is completed and online in a clearer form--before, policies were in existence but they are no more readily available. While not online yet, it should be posted by the end of the semester. Also in the works is an online 'hate incident' reporting database so that administrators can keep track of the problems on campus and try to take action based on them. The diversity policy will be found here: http://www.bc.edu/offices/diversity/

Read on to find out more about the policies at BC...

Hate-crime protocol completed
By: Pilar Landon
Posted: 11/19/07
The University has announced the completion of a new hate-crime and bias-motivated, offensive-conduct protocol, the product of student initiative and hours of work by many University offices. The protocol, which is currently undergoing minor revisions by the Office of Institutional Diversity (OID), will launch online before the semester's end.

Spurred by the racially charged incidents last October, students formed a unified movement called TRUTH and advocated before the administration for a well-defined and codified protocol. In response to student requests, a committee to develop such a protocol was formed and met throughout the fall and spring semesters.

"The result is a tribute to the students who became involved and spoke up," said Interim Dean for Student Development Paul Chebator.

The committee, which also met briefly this fall, was co-chaired by Acting Vice President for Student Affairs Sheilah Horton and Richard Jefferson, executive director for institutional diversity. Students comprised a significant contingency on the committee, drawing upon leaders from the TRUTH movement, the AHANA Leadership Council (ALC), the GLBTQ Leadership Council, and the Undergraduate Government of Boston College (UGBC) for input. It also included a diverse representation of faculty, and staff members - Boston College Police Department Police Chief Robert Morse; Henry Humphreys, director of Residential Life; and Ines Maturana Sendoya, director of AHANA Student Programs, to name a few.

"Students called for the University to develop a hate-crime protocol because they felt students didn't know where to report these incidents and that the procedure was unclear," Horton said. "The goal of the committee was to review processes that BC had in place to deal with hateful incidents and crimes."

Research by the committee showed that other universities had online links that explained their protocols - something that BC did not. Committee members then looked at these protocols at other universities and how they might be applied to the BC community, Chebator said.

"There were protocols already in place [at BC]," Chebator said, "so it was a matter of putting it into one document and making it transparent." The policy unites all processes and procedures from different University offices under one umbrella. "It puts a front end on all procedures," Chebator said. "It's a clear public statement on what will and will not be tolerated."

Considerable debate was spent over what title the protocol would give to hateful incidents that did not rise to the level of a crime. To be considered a "hate crime," the incident has to be a crime in its own right while also including an element of discrimination based on gender, race, sexual orientation, or disability. "But just because it is not criminal doesn't mean the University will tolerate it," Chebator said.

Horton said the committee decided on "bias-motivated offensive conduct" as the appropriate nomenclature for such incidents. "It describes something not criminal but still in violation of University standards of conduct," she said.

The protocol includes definitions for what constitutes a hate crime and a bias-motivated offensive conduct, what targets and witnesses of hate crimes should do, specific responses by University offices in dealing with such incidents, and resources for education and prevention.

"There are multiply entry points into this system," Chebator said. "There is no one person to report incidents to." Per the new protocol, ODSD, ResLife, and BCPD are all equipped to handle hate crimes and bias-motivated offensive conduct.

Another task set before the committee was the development of a database, which is still in the works pending technological logistics. The database will record incidents as they happen, and any member of the community can report incidents to the database.

"This will create an institutional memory, as it will be reported on a regular basis to the University community and will allow for much more transparency," Chebator said. Currently, the University releases a record of all crimes occurring on campus, as federal policy stipulates - this new system will report non-criminal incidents as well as hate crimes.

While University officials and students on the committee said the completion of the protocol represents a significant improvement for the community, it will take incidents to actually go through the new system to determine the level of success. Depending on feedback from people who use the new protocol and database, the document may need to be changed to increase its efficacy.

Rajwantie Sahai, ALC co-president and A&S '08, said the completed protocol is a step in the right direction. "It has been on the student agenda for a while, and having it available to the community will definitely create more awareness," she said. "It is as much a set of guidelines for conduct as it is a symbol of BC's being a safe place - it helps knowing you can speak up and defend yourself, that you are protected by the University."

The new protocol, she said, creates a measure by which to hold people accountable. "Before, the absence of a protocol silenced people from determining what behavior would not be tolerated. There was no way to address people being targeted and what they could do to change that."

Sahai hopes that the new protocol continues to undergo changes as the community responds to it. The resources listed by the protocol, for instance, are extensive for the AHANA community and for women, she said, but lacking for the GLBTQ community. "I hope students beyond those who are involved with the committee will ask for more resources and reach out to the administration themselves."

Jenniffer Castillo, UGBC president and A&S '08, was also a member of the committee. "The committee itself was a success from the standpoint that it accomplished its goal," she said. "It ties in a number of departments and resources and makes it the role of the University to make sure they follow it."

Castillo said that despite this success, more can still be done though to address concerns that might arise. "We need to make sure that we not only have a protocol but that we use it and follow it," she said. "We also need to draw a line with communication: When do we alert the entire community and when does confidentiality need to take precedence?"

Sahai said the protocol also leaves a lot to be decided in terms of how the perpetrators and victims will be treated after the incidents are processed. "Will both victims and perpetrators need to attend counseling?" she posed. "Typically only the victims receive counseling, but shouldn't the perpetrators be made to address their own issues?"

Although the protocol is by and large a reaction to the events of last fall, it can also be seen as having preventative and proactive aspects that Castillo hopes the University and students will take seriously. "We hope the release of the protocol will spark communication among faculty and students as well as the creation of preventative programs," she said.

UGBC, for example, is planning something similar to last fall's UNITY week, which culminated in a rally where hundreds of students pledged to combat discrimination. "It will focus on getting students together and talking about what we don't tolerate - with the commitment of the students, it could become an annual event," Castillo said.

"It's an entire BC community issue," Sahai said. "Students need to understand that hate crimes or incidents won't be tolerated or taken lightly."

She quoted Kalamu Ya Salaam, a New Orleans, La.-based poet who recently spoke at BC: "'The ability to respond to your environment is a sign of humanity - the inability to respond is a sign of oppression.' This protocol allows us to express ourselves in a way that counteracts this oppression. It gives us the power to respond in such a way that the school takes note and responds."

Front page Heights article! (Catholicism and Sexuality event)

The Heights writes about the event held last Thursday, titled "Learning to Teach: The Challenge of Catholic Sexual Ethics" led by Fr. Ken Himes. Held in the Gasson Honors Library, it had a great turn out with lots of challenging questions addressed. It was a very positive event and left a lot of questions to be pondered and explored. Read on, friends..

Exploring sexuality in the Catholic context
By: Kelly McCartney
Posted: 11/12/07
The Rev. Ken Himes, O.F.M., chair of the theology department, braved a cold night and a recently diagnosed case of Walking Pneumonia to speak to a packed house at Boston College on "Learning to Teach: The Challenge of Catholic Sexual Ethics." The event, co-sponsored by the Gay Leadership Council (GLC) and the theology department, was held in the Honors Library this past Wednesday night.

The conversation-style presentation covered topics as varied as the changing demographics of the church, celibacy, and the questions of homosexuality in the church. Himes opened the night by emphasizing his lack of academic experience on the topic of Catholic sexual ethics.

"I'm not here to talk to you as head of the theology department and the reason for this is in all of my years of teaching, I have never taught a course on sexual ethics," Himes said. "I don't claim any great academic expertise on sexual ethics."

Instead, Himes said, his background in sexual ethics consists of the many conversations about the topic that he had participated in over the years.

After his academic disclaimer, Himes launched into a history of Pope Paul VI's encyclical, or letter to all the churches, titled "Humanae Vitae." The encyclical, published in July 1968, reaffirmed the church's ban on all types of artificial contraception and expanded the ban to include the recently developed oral contraceptive, or birth control pill. This ban has shaped the Catholic Church's position on contraceptives for nearly 50 years.

Such a ban has clear ramifications on Catholic colleges like BC. Because of "Humanae Vitae," none of the health centers on the BC campus are allowed to offer any form of contraceptive or any type of counseling that suggests the use of contraceptives.

This is in large part responsible for BC's failing grade on a national college sexual health report card, sponsored by Trojan condoms. As previously reported by The Heights, BC scored a 1.91 out of 4.0, putting the school at 120th place out of 139 schools.

"Humanae Vitae's" influence went beyond just a ban on contraceptives to also affect the kind of conversations that Catholics had about sexual ethics.

"In many ways, much of the conversation about sexual ethics in Roman Catholicism is a just piece of the puzzle," Himes said, "and often lurking beneath the water, is a larger or different question about the authority of the church to teach: who can teach and how teaching should be thought about in the church."

The style of teaching should have changed dramatically, Himes said, as the demographics of the Catholic Church changed. He used the example of his father and his sister to illustrate the changing face of Roman Catholicism.

His father, Himes said, was a blue-collar man who was used to taking orders, not giving them. Himes' sister, on the other hand, is an executive in charge of hundreds of people.

Himes used the microcosm of his own family to illustrate the larger changes going on in Roman Catholicism. Catholics today are more likely to be white-collar workers in leadership positions than their counterparts of 50 years ago. Such a change in demographics was never really matched by a change in teaching style within the church, Himes said.

"The crisis of authority [within the church] was going to happen because the demographics were changing," Himes said. "And because the audience has changed, you can't teach the same way."

Himes noted that the change in demographics also illustrated a change in style of thought. Where American Catholics of other times would hear the word of the church and accept it as is, Catholics today are much more likely to question the church's views and positions.

Such questions, Himes noted, should be answered and discussed. In his opinion, the church's reaction to questions is often to repeat itself, only louder, or to just throw the questioner out of the theoretical room, a reaction that Himes believes is the wrong one.

"The good teacher sees that the questioner is not being defiant by asking questions," Himes said. "The good teacher says 'Here's an opportunity for me to teach better.'"

As far as the answers to the big questions on sexual ethics, Himes said that he believed that the Catholic Church had the answer to the big question right, but the answer to many others "less than right."

"Sex matters, and if you get it wrong, you screw up your own life and the lives of other people," Himes said. "It really does have an impact on your happiness, your grasp of yourself, and your ability to form healthy relationships. The church is absolutely right to say sex is important.

"Does all sex before marriage just count as premarital? Is everyone with a homosexual orientation morally disordered?" Himes said. "On all of those questions, I think the church needs to rethink and have some conversations."

Conversation is exactly what Wednesday night's event was about. The event was the joint brainchild of Amy Kyleen Lute, an organizer of the event and A&S '09, and Celso Perez, GLC president and A&S '09.

"We thought there was a need on campus to talk about Catholic sexual ethics and really to engage those questions," Perez said. "Like Father Himes said, not to be passive, obedient, not simply affirm what the teaching is but to actually engage it."

The event was the first in a series that will cover various questions of sexual ethics within the church. There will be two or more each semester, each focusing on various controversial topics of sexual ethics within the church.

Faith was another important component of the discussion. Lute and Perez, both committed Catholics, believe that the conversations should serve to ask tough questions and find answers that give attendees a broader sense of their beliefs.

"I think being Catholic is about making your faith your own and if that means challenging what you're told in order to integrate it with your experience, then that's a necessary step to really truly believing the Word," Lute said.

Father Himes finished his speech with an appeal to the students at the event.

"A place like BC should be one where young committed people can talk to each other and create zones of freedom where they can talk freely," Himes said. "If we can't do it at a place like here, then where the hell can we do it?"

Judging by the amount of attendees at last Wednesday's event, it's a conversation that many BC students are ready to have.

www.bcheights.com

NY Times article--Gay Muslims in the U.S.

Written last week for the New York Times, Neil Macfarquhar speaks about and interviews religious Muslims who are Gay in the U.S., and how they are struggling to deal with these two identities.

November 7, 2007
Gay Muslims Find Freedom, of a Sort, in the U.S.
By NEIL MACFARQUHAR

SAN FRANCISCO — About 15 people marched alongside the Muslim float in this city’s notoriously fleshy Gay Pride Parade earlier this year, with various men carrying the flags of Egypt, Lebanon, Palestine and Turkey and even Iran’s old imperial banner.

While other floats featured men dancing in leather Speedos or women with scant duct tape over their nipples, many Muslims were disguised behind big sunglasses, fezzes or kaffiyehs wrapped around their heads.

Even as they reveled in newfound freedom compared with the Muslim world, they remained closeted, worried about being ostracized at the mosque or at their local falafel stand.

“They’re afraid of the rest of the community here,” said Ayman, a stocky 31-year-old from Jordan, who won asylum in the United States last year on the basis of his sexuality. “It’s such a big wrong in the Koran that it is impossible to be accepted.”

For gay Muslims, change may come via a nascent body of scholarship in minority Muslim communities where the reassessment of sacred texts used to damn homosexuality is gaining momentum.

In traditional seats of Islamic learning, like Egypt and Iran, punishment against blatant homosexual activity, not to mention against trying to establish a gay rights movement, can be severe. These governments are prone to label homosexuality a Western phenomenon, as happened in September when Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, spoke at Columbia University. But far more leeway to dissect the topic exists in places where gay rights are more protected.

As a rule, gay Muslim activists lacked the scholarly grounding needed to scrutinize time-honored teachings. But that is changing, activists say, partly because no rigid clerical hierarchy exists in the West to bar such research.

Nonetheless, gaining acceptance remains such a hurdle that Muslims in the United States hesitate. Imam Daayiee Abdullah, 53, a black convert to Islam, was expelled from a Saudi-financed seminary in Virginia after the school found out he is gay. His effort to organize a gay masjid, or mosque, in Washington failed largely out of fear, he said.

“You have these individuals who say that they would blow up a masjid if it was a gay masjid,” he said. Mr. Abdullah and other scholars argue that there is no uncontested record of the Prophet Muhammad addressing homosexuality and that examples of punishment would surely exist had he been hostile.

Mirroring the feminist school of Islam, gay advocates pursue a holistic interpretation that emphasizes accepting everyone as equally God’s creation.

Most Koranic verses treating same-sex relations are ambiguous, said Omid Safi, an Islamic studies professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “They are talking about an ‘abomination,’” Professor Safi said, “but what an abomination is remains open to interpretation.”

Since the primary Koranic verses used to condemn homosexuality also suggest male rape, the progressive reading is that the verses revile using sex as domination, said Scott Kugle, an American convert and university professor who specializes in the topic. The arguments are not entirely modern; some are drawn from a medieval scholar in Andalusia, once a seat of enlightened Muslim governance, he said.

The classical attitude toward lesbians is even murkier, Mr. Kugle added, because sex was defined as penetration.

Hostility is rooted in the Koranic story of Lot, which parallels the biblical Sodom and Gomorrah. At Al-Tawhid Mosque in San Francisco, the imam, Hassan al-Jalal, a Yemeni with a short beard, printed a sheaf of Koranic verses that he said condemned homosexuals.

“This is the main sin in Islam,” Mr. Jalal said, describing how the town housing Lot’s tribe was lifted high into the sky and then dropped, killing all in the town before they were buried under what is now the Dead Sea. “He sent the flood to clean the earth from AIDS. There were no doctors at that time, but God knew they had a virus.”

All sects mandate capital punishment, he argued, although others differ. “Sunni, Shiite, they all agree that they have to be killed. But who does it? Not me or you, only by law.”

Muslim clerics reject being gay as biologically coded and advise anyone with homosexual stirrings to avoid temptation. They see America as rife with it given practices like open gym showers.

The hostility pushes some gay Muslims to interpret for themselves or to withdraw from the faith. For Rafique, a 56-year-old Southeast Asian Muslim in San Francisco, resolution came through a combination of medieval mystic poetry and individual spiritual efforts endorsed by Sufi Muslim traditions.

Renowned poets wrote odes glorifying handsome boys. Some were interpreted as metaphors about loving God, but some were paeans to gay sex. Rafique and others argue that homosexuality became criminalized only under European colonialism.

“From the 10th to the 14th century, Muslim society used to be a far richer mix of the legal, the rational and the mystic,” said Rafique, an anthropologist. “They looked at sexuality as one aspect of life’s many possibilities, and they saw in it the hope for spiritual insight. I came across this stuff, and it helped me reconcile the two.”

Some mosques with a Sufi orientation extend a rare welcome to gay Muslims.

Ayman, the parade organizer, said his previous life in Jordan was marked by fear. Arrested at 17 after a sexual encounter in a public building, he said the police wrote “manyak,” a homosexual slur, into his file. He denied being gay, but the word resurfaced whenever the police stopped him. He worried that one day it would happen around a relative.

He is convinced that a 22-year-old gay friend who died after a fall from an apartment building was the victim of an “honor” killing meant to clean the family’s reputation. “I still feel like I’m a Muslim; I don’t accept that anyone insults the faith,” said Ayman, who avoids attending mosque. “When I read what it says in the Koran, then I fear Judgment Day.”

A 26-year-old from Saudi Arabia who took the first name Liam after rejecting his faith said that as a teenager he fought his homosexuality by becoming a religious zealot. He eventually accepted his sexuality while at college in Colorado, but moved to the Bay Area because gay life in the kingdom was too depressing.

But a 39-year-old burly, bearded computer consultant who left Saudi Arabia to live in the United States said the cosmopolitan city of Jidda had a thriving gay underground. In other Arab states, he said, it is rare to find men who are both religious and gay, but the high numbers in Jidda made them relax somewhat. “They don’t care about sex and alcohol, but they do avoid pork,” he said.

The consultant, trying to reconcile being gay and Muslim, divides his sins into the redeemable and those warranting hellfire. “Anal sex for either a man or woman is wrong, so when I really think about it, I tell myself not to have sex,” he said, describing a failed four-year experiment with celibacy. “I live with what I am doing, but I don’t want to live in a double standard, I don’t want to go through life unhappy.”

New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/07/us/07gaymuslim.html?_r=1

Gays and Grays--Nov 15th 7pm Higgins 310

Sponsored by the Lesbian Gay Faculty Staff and Administrator Association (LGFSAA) at BC:

This Thursday! Author Fr. Donal Godfrey comes to speak about his experience and book about working with a Catholic parish in the Castro in San Francisco that is inclusive of the gay community.

Gays and Grays: The Story of the Gay Community at Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Parish in San Francisco
Thursday, November 15, 2007 | 7:00 p.m., Higgins 310

Presented by Fr. Donal Godfrey, S.J, Executive Director of University Ministry at the University of San Francisco.

ALLIES--Catholicism and Sexuality with Fr. Himes 11/8

Sponsored by the GLC and the Theology department, Fr. Himes will be leading a discussion about Catholicism and sexual ethics to try and begin the conversation that we struggle with at Boston College. Come join us in the Gasson Honors Library (Gasson 112) this Thursday, 11/8, at 7:30 PM. This is a great event especially for Allies to be a part of!

FRIDAY "Beauty in the LGBT Community"

GLC and the Women's Resource Center present:

"Beauty in the LGBT Community"

Have you ever heard somebody say "she's too butch" or "he's too much of a fairy"? What is the beautiful norm? What about "passing"? How are LGBT people portayed in the media? How about race? Professor Lisa Cuklanz of the Communications Department will lead a discussion about standards of beauty within and around the LGBT community and what effect it has.

THIS FRIDAY
November 2, the WRC (McElroy 141)
1-2pm

Questions? Comments? Concerns? Contact Ellie (ryanhz@bc.edu)

-----
Elizabeth Ryan
GLC Director of Women's Issues
CSON 2009

Food, Games and Fun! TONIGHT!

O'Connell House
7-9pm

Come by GLC's first social/game night with music and free pizza before going out for halloween fun:) Stop by or stay the whole time, and meet some of the members of the GLBT community! Bring friends!

See you there :)

Dan Savage TOMORROW at 8pm

DAN SAVAGE
Heights Room (second floor of lower dining hall)
8pm

Internationally syndicated sex and relationship columnist, writer and podcaster, Dan Savage, will be @ BC this Thursday to present on his life, do a reading from his newest books and answer your questions. A phenomenal event full of wit, sass and humor, do not miss this one!

Sponsored by GLC

Bring a friend!

Heights reports on "How to Be Straight"

Published on Thursday, The Heights writes about the Allies Panel on Tuesday evening in which five faculty/staff members responded to questions asked by Anna Rhodes ('10) who led the panel as well as questions asked by audience members. Panelists talked about their experiences, reaching out, and the issue of religion and sexuality.

GLC examines role of allies
Published in the Thursday, October 4, 2007 Edition of The Heights
By Kyoolee Park

In 1997, the Human Rights Campaign established National Coming Out Day in celebration of 500,000 people who marched on Washington, D.C., to advocate gay and lesbian rights in 1987. Boston College joined this social movement to raise public awareness of one of the most polemical issues in the nation, and organized a weeklong celebration of National Coming Out Week, from Monday through Friday.

One of the events organized by the GLBT Leadership Council (GLC) and the Undergraduate Government of BC (UGBC) was a "How to Be Straight" panel, held Tuesday. The panel, led by Anna Rhodes, A&S '10, invited five participants, who shared personal encounters and opinions.

Virginia Reinburg, an associate professor in the history department at BC since 1985, explained that it is important to acknowledge the gravity of the issue. "A lot of students are in pain, for there is a continuous undercurrent of actions that harm the GLBT community," she said.

At BC, which has a strong Jesuit background, homosexuality is a rather sensitive subject. Vincent Lynch, the director of continuing education at the Graduate School for Social Work, said that the University is definitely struggling in a positive direction to face the issue, but still has a long way to go.

J.A. Loftus, a parish staff member at St. Ignatius Church and the director of the Jesuit Urban Center at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Boston, commented on the clash between the Christian religion and the movement for gay rights. As a parishoner who works with a predominantly gay and lesbian community, Loftus has a unique experience: "People ask me how I, a parishoner, can be a GLBT ally. I think that it is a misuse of idea of religion. In Christ, there is no male, female, American, or Hispanic … All of us are the same." In his view, this is a "terrible irony," since every Christian document condemns discrimination. "We are all God's children. We need to love one another," Loftus said.

The rest of the panel was directed toward answering questions of how to be an ally to the GLBT community. Reinburg said that it is necessary to take small steps, as it is a very sensitive issue, and to start by "simply raising the issue that there is a GLBT community here."

Joellen Hawkins, a professor of nursing in the Connell School of Nursing for 24 years, highlighted the importance of building an environment that provides safety and comfort for the GLBT community. She said that she tries to show her acceptance and welcome by putting up symbols such as rainbows on her door. "The most important thing is to let the community know that they are safe," Hawkins said.

As another way to become an ally of the GLBT community, the panelists reinforced the idea of building individual connections. "I don't differentiate myself from the community. Instead of finding the differences, why don't we start by identifying what we have in common?" Lynch said.

The panelists agreed that the key is to build trust by making connections and respecting the individual's choice. "You have to let the individual take the lead. Give him the privilege and let him decide," Lynch said.

Another issue raised during the discussion was approaching those with strongly opposing views. Loftus, who has had many experiences confronting opposition, said that one needs to respect perspectives different from his own. "We need to realize that each person has different background. Neither side should be out to change each other's view. We need to agree to understand the difference," Loftus said.

Rhodes said that she is content to see such a great turnout. The room full of students indicated a rising concern for this human rights issue among BC students. She asked many students to learn more about the GLBT community by attending weekly GLC meetings, and participating in upcoming National Coming Out Week events.

NCOW success!! Thank you!!

Thanks to the hard work of many contributors from GLC, Street Team, undergrad, alumni, and faculty/staff volunteers and more National Coming Out Week was a great success.

Monday's barbecue in the dustbowl led by Shahan had a great turn out and street team helped pub the events of the week with chalking and quarter sheet distribution. The hamburgers were excellent! It was great to see some new faces.

Tuesday's Allies Panel "How to be Straight" also had a great turnout--there were five panelists consisting of BC facutly staff that answered questions asked by the audience about how best to be an ally and confronting some controversial ally issues. Thanks so much to our panelists and audience!

Wednesday's open-mic event called Opening Boston's Closet was a really excellent night. The event was hosted by alumnus Brian Sloan, '88, novelist and director, and several students and alumni both gay and straight shared their stories about coming out and friends who are gay. Very supportive and inspiring atmosphere, a really great time.

Thursday was Guess Who's Gay--we had a panel of nine people who answered questions asked by the audience about themselves and their interests and the audience tried to guess their sexuality at the end. The panelists were all really open and did an excellent job--the mixed voting really showed that it isn't always easy to tell who is glbt or not.

Friday night was I feel Pretty with 13 BC student models who gave a monologue and modeled both an outfit they feel uncomfortable in and one they do feel comfortable in. It was surprising to see the change in demeanor from one walk down the runway to the next! The walks were a little lighter, the smiles a little bigger.. the crowd was really supportive and it turned out to be a fun time.

Thank you to all who help put this together and participated and to those who came to the events! It was wonderful to see some new faces, we look forward to seeing more of you as the year goes on!!

See you at our next meeting :) Look out for upcoming social events in the making.

The Catholic experience..? The debate continues..

Father Imbelli of the Theology department at BC contests the article written by Celso Perez, GLC president, about what it means to be a questioning Catholic. While Celso cites that it is completely necessary to question and explore the meanings of Catholicism and how it applies to our lives today as a University, Fr. Imbelli calls into question those lives and whether they are 'standing under the cross of Christ.' It leaves much to be desired in this discussion.

Read on, friends..

The Heights
Letters to the Editor
Monday, September 17, 2007

Does Catholicism call your 'experiences' to 'conversion'?
Celso Perez wrote a careful letter that was printed in The Heights on Sept. 13 ("A 'c'est la vie' attitude on Catholic tradition is 'dangerous.'") In it he discussed Catholic teaching "On the Pastoral Care of Homosexuals" and raised some considerations regarding development in Catholic moral teaching. Among the factors that enter into moral discernment, he mentions the teaching of the Church's magisterium, Scripture, and what he calls "the normative human experience."

Now, of course, what constitutes "normative human experience" is precisely what is at issue. Appeals to "my experience" abound. But the Christian, instructed by Christ's call to conversion, will always seriously raise the question: Is my experience, the self I am, the meanings and values I espouse, being called to conversion?

Mr. Perez then goes on to quote "one Catholic theologian" who maintains that sin is "simply not bothering to love." One may even concede the point, but add: "Love is also caring enough to say to another, with compassion and concern: the way you are following is not one that leads to true life."

Finally, the same theologian defines mercy as "the willingness to enter into the chaos of others." Once more one may accept this starting point, yet be compelled to complete it by saying: "but not to add to the chaos, rather hopefully to bring the light of Christ."

All Christians, straight or gay, married or single, stand under the cross of Christ to learn from him what constitutes "normative human experience."

Father Robert Imbelli
Department of Theology

www.BCHeights.com

Kicking off a great year! Updates!!

We're off to a great start this year! So far we have plenty in the making.. A little update on what we've been working on:

--Open meetings! Come by on MONDAYS at 9:30, McGuinn 3rd floor lounge! This week we are mingling with Chocolate Fondue at 8pm before the meeting to get to socialize a bit before getting down to business. Feel free to stop by for as long or short as you'd like!

--NEW WEBSITE! Up and running, and it looks gorgeous--kudos to our webmaster Tachi. http://bcglbt.org

--NCOW (Oct 1-5): really coming together strong--check out the calendar for all event listings--NEW on the menu is "I Feel Pretty" (Friday)--an empowering fashion show where models (BC students) model in and talk about what they are least and most comfortable in. Still looking for models! Contact My-Yen for more infor: ytran04@gmail.com

--Dan Savage (Oct 18th): Syndicated columnist of "Savage Love" is coming to Robsham theater, tickets are FREE!

--Queer Peers: up and running, although we're looking to start having 'office hours' in the near future, keep an ear out for that.

Currently brewing:
-Catholic lecture series with the Theology department (dates TBA)
-Freshman welcome event(s) (dates TBA)
-LAMBDA--we're looking for a leader to run the GLBT social group, for now we're combining it with GLC
-ALLIES--also under construction
-GBLT CURA group?
-Alumni reunion?

Look out for more updates coming soon :)

GLC responds to Heights article

After the concerning article written by Josh Darr came out in The Heights last week, Celso Perez our GLC presidents responds:

A 'c'est la vie' attitude on Catholic tradition is 'dangerous'

In last Thursday's issue of The Heights, staff columnist Joshua Darr explored the condition of GLBTQ rights on Boston College's campus in "The Gay Rights Reality (Opinions, Sept. 6)." Darr proposed that while the GLBTQ Leadership Council (GLC) is "fighting the good fight," BC is a Catholic university and the University's administration must therefore submit itself to magisterial teaching on homosexuality. I find his portrayal of a Catholic university ill-informed.

Darr's statement that "The Catholic Church will continue to determine God's will as it sees it. BC has to follow these interpretations," is simplistic at best. BC is not a seminary, but a university. And as a university, BC is dedicated to the search for truth, guided by its Catholic principles. That is, when the search for truth comes into conflict with Catholic doctrine, due respect must be given to the Catholic tradition. But students, faculty, and administrators are called to critically engage these teachings, not simply affirm them.

Although it is unclear in his article, I suppose that when Darr refers to the view of the Catholic Church on homosexuality, he mainly is referring to the teachings similar to those expressed in the letter to the bishops, "On the Pastoral Care of Homosexuals." Among other things, this letter states, "Although the particular inclination of the homosexual person is not a sin, it is a more or less strong tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil; and thus the inclination itself must be seen as an objective disorder." While this passage leaves little room for interpretation, it is by no means an end to the conversation on homosexuality in general, or that passage in particular.

Magisterial teaching is but one element, albeit an important one, to be considered in moral discernment by a Catholic university. Contemporary moral theologians will cite other reference points including, but not limited to, Scripture, secular disciplines of knowledge, and the normative human experience. These reference points, often in tension with one another, lead to the development of moral doctrine. As Darr points out in the case of Galileo: While maintaining its commitment to the teachings of Christ, magisterial teaching and the greater Catholic tradition evolve over time. Scholars too have documented this phenomenon. Among other contemporary historians, John Noonan specifically explores the development of Catholic moral teaching on freedom of conscience, lending for profit, and slavery in A Church that Can and Cannot Change.

Given that moral doctrine is constantly developing, we must take an active role in engaging the Catholic tradition. "Not everything that exists in the Church must for that reason be also a legitimate tradition; in other words, not every tradition that arises in the Church is a true celebration and keeping present of the mystery of Christ. There is a distorting, as well as legitimate, tradition […] Consequently, tradition must not be considered only affirmatively, but also critically," wrote Pope Benedict XVI (then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger). In this light, I would say it is a living tradition that BC is part of; one that it must actively help shape, not passively subscribe to.

A friend of mine described Darr's article as follows: "[his] c'est la vie attitude is frighteningly dangerous; an outlook of someone throwing his hands up nonchalantly." Personally, it reminds me of Rev. Martin Luther King's description of the white moderate, "Who is more devoted to 'order' than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is in the presence of justice." I don't feel that adopting such a passive attitude before such an important issue behooves a Catholic university.

Looking at the parable of the Good Samaritan, that of Lazarus and the rich man, and Matthew's last judgment, one Catholic theologian identifies sin as, "simply not bothering to love." He proposes that in each case "our entire [Catholic] theological tradition is expressed in terms of mercy, which I define as the willingness to enter into the chaos of others." I echo this proposal. Rather than defining a Catholic university as one that simply "follows these interpretations [of the magisterium]," I suggest defining it as one that enters into the chaos of all its students; including the gay ones. That's the Catholic university I hope BC strives to become.

Celso Perez
GLC President

www.bcheights.com (Letters to the Editor)

Heights article--Misinformed? Offensive?

Published this Thursday in our first week of classes, Joshua Darr writes about the gay community's, especially GLC's efforts at Boston College. Citing Catholic dogma and supposed GLC agendas, he talks about BC's need to strictly follow magsterial teaching without the possibility of exploring, questioning, and discerning what Catholicism means to us as a Catholic university. Read on, friends..

The Gay Rights Reality
Published in the Thursday, September 6, 2007 Edition of The Heights
By Joshua Darr

They just want to have a dance. They just want to be a recognized student organization. They just want some measure of official acceptance.

Who could deny them that?

For better or for worse, Boston College is a Catholic Jesuit university. This quality is stressed to us in information packets, orientations, and even in the basic architecture of the University. This carries with it certain ideological weight - most of it for the better. BC folds religion into philosophy and other disciplines more than most universities. Since most people experience the world through the prism of some religious belief, the University's focus on theology and social justice leads its students to a more nuanced and complete understanding of the world. While the perspective at BC is unabashedly Catholic, other religions are represented through organizations like the Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies Student Association (MEISSA) or BC Hillel.

Nonetheless, this remains a Catholic university. That carries with it certain burdens and perspectives, one of which is the church's opposition to homosexuality and its characterization of homosexuality as a sin.

So what of GLBT students at BC? GLBT student groups such as the GLBTQ Leadership Council (GLC) have been pushing for greater acceptance from the administration for years. Juniors and seniors will remember the last-minute cancellation of the "GLC Diversity Ball: A Night in 'Gay Paris'" several years ago, which was viewed as a major setback by BC's gay community. The administration did not believe that the idea of a "gay-only" dance was consistent with university (Catholic) values. While there was no problem with gay couples attending university-wide dances, a "gay-themed" dance would be viewed as "condoning the gay lifestyle."

The University was attempting to walk the fine line between staying true to Catholic values and promoting acceptance for all students. The gay community at BC did not take kindly to these actions.

By then, however, much progress had already been made. The GLC is a major force on campus, sponsoring speakers and panels, working closely with other student groups to promote understanding, and becoming one of the strongest voices at the ear of the UGBC.

The fact that we are in Massachusetts, and students could walk down the street and become legally married, has certainly strengthened their cause. They are fighting the good fight, but in the end, their struggle is not against the administration - it is against the values of the Catholic Church.

The Catholic church believes what it believes, and does not change particularly easily. This is viewed as strength by many; it does not change with the winds of time. In fact, it is often behind the times. This is, after all, the church that waited until the 1990s to pardon Galileo for saying that the Earth revolves around the sun.

The Catholic Church will continue to determine God's will as it sees it. BC has to follow these interpretations. It does not have the luxury of picking and choosing which aspects of Catholic dogma it would like to follow. Every student who applied here knew what to expect; a Catholic education, consisting of the good and the bad.

Both sides recognize the volatility of this issue on campus. The GLBT groups know at some level that if they confront the church head-on, their chances for some gains are nil.

The administration desperately wants to be fair to all students, but knows it must cling to Catholic dogma. This issue will simmer beneath the surface all year, but neither side wants to make the first move.

The administration had every right to deny the GLC its dance due to the constrictive nature of Catholic dogma. That is the nature of going to a Catholic university, whether or not you find that regrettable. It is absolutely right, however, for the GLC to demand more and more rights and acceptance.

While that might not be the most exciting resolution, a slow and steady progression of the cause of gay rights on this campus is the best way for both sides to hold to their values and realize their goals. If either side is looking to pick a battle, they might just end up losing the war.

Joshua Darr is a Heights staff columnist.

www.bcheights.com (Opinions)

UGBC retreat and website

Hi all!

This past week was the UGBC diversity training and retreat held at Camp Burgess in Sandwich, MA on the cape. A lot of great discussion was had at the training and Jenn Castillo (UGBC Pres) and Dan Sievers (UGBC VP), as well as ALC and GLC put together presentations about their plans for the year. Team-building activities to create ties between all members of UGBC like a low-ropes course, games, and a bonfire were enjoyed by all. All around it was a success.

Check out the newly updated, revamped UGBC website (WWW.UGBC.ORG) complete with news updates and a Google calendar with all of the events that are being planned for this semester. Look forward to a newly updated GLC site in the near future!

A longer update to come when we all return back to campus! Hope you are enjoying your last days of summer!

Queer Peers!

Although not up on the website yet, check out QUEER PEERS & join the facebook group: http://bc.facebook.com/group.php?gid=3052912553&ref=mf

Even if you aren't GLBTQ, it might just help someone you know!

Queer Peers are students who are available to talk to other BC students about GLBTQ issues, like questioning sexuality, coming out, supporting questioning friends, relationship issues and more. Email any of the students below with any questions, concerns—they will maintain your confidentiality!
_______________________________
Bill Sugrue
Email: sugruew@bc.edu
Hey, my name is Bill Sugrue and I'm a third year psychology major in the pre-med program. I’m from Hastings, NY, I am going to be the co-director of communications for GLC next year. I like hanging out with friends, watching movies, and going to concerts.

My-Yen Tran
Email: Yen.Tran.1@c.edu
I'm a rising senior in the Carroll School of Management ('08, woot!) with a concentration in Accounting and a minor in Human Develpment. I was born and raised in Boston, but my heart's in London at the moment.The Patriots are my life, and I support two baseball teams, the Red Sox, and the team that's playing the Yankees. If you have any questions or just want to borrow the L- Word, please, please don't hesitate to contact me!

Dan Sugrue
Email: sugrued@bc.edu
I am a psychology major, Hispanic studies minor, class 2009--I like Tarantino movies, making up scenarios and running with them, laughing, making others laugh, reciting inappropriate memories, and Spanish.

Elizabeth Ryan
Email: elizabeth.ryan.3@bc.edu
Hey, I’m Ellie—I’m a junior nursing major from South Shore Mass. I love being outside (hiking, biking, camping), dance parties, Indian food, being silly, reading, laughing, going to shows…I’m also the Director of Women’s Issues for GLC and a Pathophysiology tutor.

Celso Perez
Email: celso.perez.1@bc.edu
Hi, I'm Celso Perez and I'm a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences. I'm a theology and biochemistry double major, with an interest in bioethics, sexual ethics, and public health and ethics. A native of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, I'm the oldest of five siblings. In my free time I enjoy reading, knitting, volleyball, and centering prayer.

OP ED article written by BC Professor

OP ED article written by a BC professor taken from BAYWINDOWS. It's from a few weeks ago, but very relevant and hits close to home for us at BC. In response to the Catholic leaders in Mass, who responded to the gay marriage bill veto.


Issue Date: 7/5/2007, Posted On: 7/3/2007

Mass Catholic leaders still don 't get it

Kevin J. Mahoney

I just finished the "The Statement of the Catholic bishops of Massachusetts" released after the June 14 defeat of the marriage amendment by the state legislature. Given that this letter was distributed in every Roman Catholic parish in the state on Sunday, June 17, I feel it requires a response from a Catholic who disagrees and who feels these bishops are denigrating the decency and intelligence of more than three-quarters of all the legislators in our state who voted to prevent this limitation of civil rights from being introduced into our Constitution.

I would like to make three points. The first is that the Catholic bishops do not seem to understand our state constitution. The founders of our state and nation knew that it should not be easy to amend the constitution, which guarantees basic human rights. In a democracy, minorities can trust that their rights cannot serendipitously be removed. That's why they buy into the system. Our founding fathers carefully established checks and balances. They established a procedure where people could collect signatures requesting a referendum creating a change in the constitution, but, in order to prevent ill-conceived changes in our underlying freedoms, they stipulated that at least a quarter of the states' elected legislators, assembled in a formal constitutional convention, had to agree, in two consecutive sessions, that the issue merited a change in our basic constitution. Personally, I rejoice that this constitutional test was not met. "Let the people vote" was an ill-conceived slogan asking legislators to abrogate their constitutional duty. The Catholic bishops' claim that "citizens have a right to vote on a constitutional amendment" is either uninformed or disingenuous.

The second is that Republicans as well as Democrats voted in favor of civil marriage rights. All of the seven judges on the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court that determined that individuals of the same sex had an equal right to the privileges and responsibilities of marriage were appointed by Republican governors. Whereas only 24 of the 196 legislators who voted at the constitutional convention were Republicans, the Republican leaders in both the House and the Senate opposed the constitutional amendment as did three of the five Republican senators. To defeat this effort to change our constitution, nine legislators changed their votes between January and June. Believe it or not, two of those amazingly courageous legislators were Republicans. Those aligned with the Catholic bishops would lead you to believe that this attempt to change our constitution was defeated mainly because "pressure tactics were engineered to ensure that the will of the people would not prevail."

They would like to imply that they lost only because they were outspent. Nonsense. The bishops command an incredible "free" pulpit to lobby for their view of "the common good." I think it is amazing that in three-and-a-half years Massachusetts has gone from 50 to 151 elected legislators who believe couples of the same sex should be treated equally. When I attended Boston College High School I can remember one of my theology teachers, back in the years when the Catholic Church was emphasizing Jesus's teachings on social justice and care for the poor, saying, "It is impossible to be a good Catholic and a good Republican at the same time." This was nonsense. So is the statement of today's Catholic bishops promoting the replacement of the Democratic Party leadership because they have a different view of the "common good."

My last point is that Americans of all faiths appreciate rational, even-handed arguments and look askance at rhetoric that insults and debases one's opponents. When the Catholic bishops proclaim that, "Today, the common good has been sacrificed by the extreme individualism that subordinates what is best for children, families, and society," I say please treat us like adults. Looking at the crowd advocating outside the constitutional convention I think most impartial observers would agree there were more religious groups opposing this change in our constitution than there were promoting it. Do the Catholic bishops think we should dismiss the Religious Coalition for the Freedom to Marry as irrelevant and immoral? I hope the bishops are clear with everyone this is not a matter where they are infallible.

I am a Catholic and I always will be. I just wish that our appointed bishops would sit down, look at the evidence on what good has happened when gay people have had the right to marry and raise children, and talk with us, not at us.

Kevin J. Mahoney is a Professor at the Boston College Graduate School of Social Work, and Director of the Center on the Study of Home and Community Life.

From: www.baywindows.com

Great news! & legislation

Although a little delayed, there ought to be a post about this great news!

Gay marriage protected in Massachusetts! On June 14th the Massachusetts Legislature voted against the gay-marriage ban to go to the public ballot in the 2008 election, so marriage is protected until at least 2012! Thanks to those who rallied at the state house and contacted their legislators! Read the Boston Globe's article here:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/06/15/right_of_gays_to_marry_set_for_years_to_come/

Additionally, there is an anti-discrimination act being voted on in the senate, the Matthew Shepherd Act, a bill to include sexual orientation as aHate Crime. One in six hate crimes are due to sexual orientation--here's something you can do about it!! The HRC website has a form you can fill out to send to your senators, and a video clip about it here:
http://www.hrcactioncenter.org/campaign/fighthate_video

Still working on projects for the fall, updates coming soon!

Ellie

Ellie Ryan
Director of Women's Issues
Boston College 2009

Save Gay Marriage in Massachusetts!

THIS THURSDAY, June 14, is the Constitutional Convention in Massachusetts where legislators will be voting on the equal marriage ballot initiative--this could potentially put gay marriage on the PUBLIC BALLOT, which could lead to the loss of the right to marry for gay couples in Massachusetts.

Here's what you can do to help:

1) http://www.massequality.org/action/maps/
Contact your friends and family members (those who live in Massachusetts) and have them contact their legislators--those who live in the red parts of Massachusetts have legislators who have not committed to supporting equal marriage rights.

2) Come to the convention!
State House (Park Street T stop)
7:30am-3:30pm, June 14th
(more info at massequality.org)

Please come show your support if you will be in Boston! This could be the end of our stuggle or the very beginning! I'll be going early in the morning if anyone would like to join.

Ellie

Ellie Ryan
Director of Women's Issues
Boston College 2009

Pride, NCOW, Faculty involvement planning

Hi all!

Despite the overcast and drizzly day, the Boston's Pride Parade and Festival was held and had a nice turnout. It was great to see the numbers of the GLBT community and Allies celebrating!

Some updates on the planning/ideas for the fall:

Orientation: in orientation there is a skit that addresses the GLBTQ community, and member Jeremy Marks is working to revamp that, as well as incorporate it into the orientation leader (OL) training for the small groups.

National Coming Out Week: we're working on revamping NCOW to be a bigger, more welcoming event. So far we're working on four events--
-a BIG barbecue: GLC pins, rainbow ribbons, live music, food, and maybe even one of those inflatable bouncy things!
-Vigil/Day of Remembrance
-Opening Boston's closet: an open-mic type night of sharing stories of gay and straight students
-Guess Who's Gay: an interactive discussion where the audience asks a panel of students questions to try and determine what their sexuality is, followed by a Q&A session--back by popular demand! Faculty and students to be included
-Allies event--we're still figuring this one out, perhaps a panel discussion? TBA

Also, for next year we've been talking a lot about building our community through connecting the faculty, staff and alumni with the current students. Some ideas:

Brian Sloan (BC A&S '88) Lambda Literary Award Finalist author who has also worked on a couple of films in the last few years is interested in coming back to BC to do a GLC event.
[http://www.briansloan.com/tale.html]

John McDargh, a professor in the theology department, suggested Jason and Demarco [http://www.jasonanddemarco.com], a gay singing duo recently featured in the documentary "We're All Angels".

Let us know what you think!

Ellie

Ellie Ryan
Director of Women's Issues
Boston College 2009

Boston Pride Week 2007

For those of you who are going to be in Boston this summer, the official start to Boston Pride Week 2007 was today with the raising of the flag in City Hall Plaza. Included in the events for this week are:

-Pride Day, Sat Jun 2 at Faneuil Hall
-AIDS Walk, Sun Jun 3
-Dyke March, Fri Jun 8, beginning at Boston Common
-Boston Pride Parade, Sat Jun 9 at Tremont Street ending at City Hall Plaza
-Boston Pride Festival, Sat Jun 9 at City Hall Plaza

Other events include social gatherings, book signings, and several club nights from 18 to 21+. For full event listing and details, go to http://www.bostonpride.org/multicalendar.php

Ellie

Ellie Ryan
Director of Women's Issues
Boston College 2009

First post!

Hey all,

We're starting a new year with GLC...planning at least. We've got some great people, ideas and enthusiasm to start up our third year (woo!). Our first meeting was at the end of last semester--meeting and greeting, as well as brainstorming our goals and plans. So far we're thinking about Coming Out Week and some speakers that might come, maybe some service opportunities? as well as revamping GLC to be more welcoming and user friendly :). We're also looking to engage in some dialogue with the administration about the Catholic identity at BC and how being GLBTQ fits into all that--big ideas, but basically we just want us all at BC to be on the same page: students, faculty, and administrators.

We also want to know what YOU are interested in--what you want to see in the GLBTQ community at BC, as far as events and activities, but also how we can all make BC a more welcoming place. The LGFSAA (lesbian, gay, faculty & staff association of BC) had a great panel discussion at the end of the year talking about their experiences at BC, making the faculty and staff more visible to students. I can only hope we continue these kinds of events to make a space for the community here on campus :)

Look forward to a survey on our website about GLBTQ issues at BC, your feelings about it and what you'd like to see here--we want to hear from you! And keep checking for updates about plans, groups...like Queer Peers (coming soon!)

Happy Summer!
El

Ellie Ryan
Director of Women's Issues
Boston College 2009