Love,
Emily Tan and Sabrina Lopez
- Friday, October 2, 1992
Written by Cindy Lutenbacher a newly hired part time teacher in the department of Theatre stated that she was a “feminist who purports to work against racism, sexism, homophobia, classism (etc.)”
- Friday, October 30, 1992; page 3
Though the Committee on Community Diversity had appeared multiple times throughout this time period, this is the first time that the social issue of homophobia as explicitly been included in writing along with issues of ethnicity, class, sexism and anti-Semitism.
- Friday, October 30, 1992; page 3
“Everyone’s problem to deal with” Workshop combats homophobia on campus
The workshop was named “Homophobia: What does it have to do with me anyway?” This event was sponsored by the Lesbian/Bi-sexual
- Friday, February 26, 1993; page 2
Behan rejects political correctness. Proclaims love of racism, sexism, homophobia.
- Friday, February 26, 1993; page 5
Cartoon depicting an army general speaking in front of a news camera “Gays in the Military?...PREPOSTEROUS! Women loving Women, Men loving Men…WHY…The Nation’s not ready for such a bizarre concept…” No explanation for this cartoon was included nor were there any letters to the editors. - Friday, March 12, 1993; page 5
Letters to the Editor
In a letter to the Editor, Emma Mitchem and Mzinga Shakir wrote in regards to Agnes Scott’s Administration’s decision to change the school’s colors on official stationary due to the fact “the color purple is often associated with lesbianism.” They asked if the “administration [was] scared that Agnes Scott [would] be labeled as a ‘lesbain’ college because of the color purple.” They believed that the school should not ‘alter its school colors because of a societal stereotype”.
- Friday, April 30, 1993; page 1
Women’s Studies department undergoes change
A new course titled “Lesbian and Gay Latin American and Latino Literature was added to the course list.
- Friday, February 11, 1994; page 3
LBA sponsors bake sale to help battered women
- April 28, 1995; page 6
People Are People
An article expressing that Agnes Scott is a diverse campus, and that we must be a community and embrace our differences and learn about one another. “We must see we are all alike, and not think that our personal group is the only important one.”
Ideas to Show Support
The author addresses questions of what heterosexual supporters can do to support. The article mentions that many “womyn avoid attending LBA meetings” in fear that they will be labeled lesbian. The author suggests supports to:
- listen to “us” as people
- talk as friends
- base judgment on personality, rather than sexuality
- be willing to communicate
- ask questions
- attend a LBA meeting and be informed
The article ends with a powerful quote, “No one is free while others are oppressed.”
- Friday, October 4, 1996
Dear Agnes
A student wrote an anonymous letter to this advice column asking for help with her lesbian roommate who is being physically abused by her partner. In response Dear Agnes stated “Lesbian battering is not uncommon. The Dekalb Women’s
- October 22, 1997
Letters to the Editor—‘Judge Not, Lest Ye Too Shall Be Judge’
- November 7, 1997
Dessert and Discussion
*In the 1998 edition of the profile no queer related events were found.
Campus News
A whole page in the college’s newspaper where students of different social groups can suggest what kind of efforts that can improve communication and allow readers to learn a bit about challenges of living a different lifestyle is like.
First social group is from the “Gay, Lesbian, Bisexuals” To name a few, they asked from their allies:
- for straight girls to be comfortable in the locker rooms when changing—to not assume
- let queer people talk about their love lives
- let the other person know when you feel uncomfortable
“Perfect Agnes would look like…” The queer community of ASC asked for faculty to be out and be an ally.
Other social groups included: Differently Abled, Black Americans, International Students, White Americans, and women.
*The 2000 edition of The Profile could not be located
- Friday, October 12, 2001 page 2
Coming up: National Coming Out Week
There were events held every day of the week—dinner discussion, poetry SpeakOut, movie night, information tables (Human Rights), importance of distinguishing allies and different sexual orientation, how campaign with a specific picture, importance of being an ally and how to be more supportive.
- October 30, 2001
Dean Hudson’s memo on diversity
This is an article reiterating the importance of diversity and how President Bullock was making it a priority. Dean Hudson made sure there were resources in the library on sexual orientation, race and ethnicity. Safe Zone information was being researched (e.g., A Guide to Combating Homophobia, Heterosexism on Campus). The college was actively working on the Committee on Community Diversity (which still exists today). The college also had faculty workshops: religious diversity, physically challenged students concerns, issues of sexual diversity, ethnic diversity, etc.
*In the spring of 2002 Profile number 86 no queer related events were found
Personal Reflections/Final Thoughts
Sabrina Lopez-->During the process of gathering queer related events I stumbled across interesting patterns and use of language. For example when the Racism Free Zone Pledge, as mentioned by a student in the 1992, October 15 edition of the Profile, first emerged it was soon followed by protests and actions against religious discrimination. Dealing with the social issue homophobia came after these two issues. This pattern of progression illustrated (for me personally of course) how Agnes was only able to combat one social issue at a time. Therefore making the issues of racism and religious discrimination a priority over homophobia. This singular focus on one social issue at a time phenomena even occurs within larger public organizations. An example of this is how gay marriage has become the new and only face of the pride movement because the majority always seems to override the minority when it comes to power and attention. The minority would be individuals with multiple queer identities. This relates to Jose Quiroga's article Latino Cultures, Imperial Sexualities where he briefly mentions how equal rights movements throughout history have a tendency to focus on one identity at a time. Within that one identity only one of the social issues that they face will be the main focus or the issue of the majority group of the queer community will have the power to push forward for specific forms social progression. For Agnes it appears that we have always had a desire for total equality but it still has that singular, step by step structure mentioned by Quiroga. At first the majority of the student and faculty population wanted to eradicate racism, then the next majoritarian group dealt with religious discrimination. Homophobia being the minority that it was fell into last place.
Another example of Agnes' inability to deal with multiple issues at a time is show in the social event "Everyone’s problem to deal with” Workshop combats homophobia on campus that is listed in the time line above. This also connects to Quiroga's article concerning queer identities and racial identities. As quoted from The Profile “The therapists also addressed the struggle against homophobia in relation to similar struggles against racism and sexism” But they apparently did not address the combination of these struggles and the effect it can have on a person. Quiroga emphasizes the complications that can arise when an already minoritarian person juggles multiple identities at the same time. For example being a queer black woman. Yes it was wonderful to see Agnes moving forward by doing these homophobia workshops but it also depicted their baby step like progression. Like in Quiroga's article Agnes seemed to only be able to handle one issue at a time and the next step in this processes is to discuss the combination of these identities. In modern day Agnes exists the student organization Affinity, a group that caters to the queer people of color community on campus.
I also found the use of language quite interesting when it came to how The Profile advertised and described certain play performances. In the 1992 edition of The Profile on page 11, September 18 there was an article titled "Gender Twists create humorous production of The Odd Couple". These "gender twists" were born from women playing masculine or male roles. Since it was for entertainment purposes, female students playing males roles was perfectly acceptable. It was only acting and apart of the performance so an audience seemed less inclined to critically think about why it is viewed as funny is the first place or asking questions such as why do these gender roles exist in the first place. Within these articles men who played feminine or female roles would be labeled as "effeminate male characters" that were “cheerful, comical, [and] entertaining”. The word effeminate can be taken as an offensive term used to describe a man whose behavior, appearance, or speech is considered to be similar to that traditionally associated with women or girls. This connects to the idea of performance being more acceptable than blatant "gayness" even though the performance itself might question heteronormative ideas. This relates to the drag queens mentioned in Sandeep Bakshi's article A Comparative Analysis of Hijras and Drag Queens who though in reality are making fun of female stereotypes and questioning the existence of these heteronorms, the pure performance of it makes it perfectly acceptable. It's the additive of humor that appears to cause the public to brush off what these obvious switching of gender roles could mean.
On discovery that I thoroughly appreciated was the separation between homosexuality and the AIDS epidemic throughout all of The Profile that I personally read through. In almost all of the Profiles it seemed as though the disease of AIDS was constantly being mentioned and discussed. It was obvious that there was a large amount of fear surrounding this topic but not once did it focus on or connect to homosexuals and/or their "lifestyles". It was not treated as a homosexual disease but rather as a threat to all women. I immediately thought of the concepts of the pure versus toxic body from Toxic Bodies? ACT Up's Disruption of the Heteronormatic Landscape of the Nation by Beth Berila. The idea of a toxic body was in fact mentioned in the articles relating to students fears regarding AIDS, but not once was the toxic body deemed as homosexual and the pure body heterosexual. Not only was this a large surprise for me but it was very much appreciated and I applaud Agnes Scott for this separation.
Overall Agnes has traveled far. From complete silence to outright campus wide support in the eyes of the public. Yes, prejudice in all forms will always exist due to people in general (sad but true truth) BUT as a queer and Hispanic student I can say that there is definitely a space for the queer community on Agnes Scott's campus (not speaking on whether or not that last is small or large or course). Now it's simply a matter of maintaining this safe space and further educating students who need to be educated.
Emily Tan-->One of the events I found in my research was the 12th annual Coming Out Week. LBA club members were emphasizing that it is important to be supportive and to become an ally because the process of coming out is necessary and significant for a person who identifies as queer. According to Jasbir Puar’s article, “Transnational Sexualities: Narrations of Normativity”. She says that the idea of coming out is very difficult because coming out is a uniquely Western experience. Coming out also has a connotation that it happens once and does not consider that one can be openly queer in certain situations but not others. Puar is trying to disrupt the idea that there is a path to sexual liberation, but it is not true everywhere.
Before my partner (Sabrina) and I decided to focus on the newspapers from 1992 to 2002, we saw newspapers in the mid-1980s that mentioned social events that were hosted by under represented student organizations. Most articles were enthusiastic about the “aromas of ethnic food” and the upbeat of salsa music playing in the background. Articles about racially diverse events were prominent before any mentions of sexuality diverse events. This observation is similar to what Jose Quiroga mentioned in his article, “Latino Cultures, Imperial Sexualities”. Quiroga claims there is an artificial divide between queer and racial issues. Historically, racial issues have been addressed before queer issues because it is not as ambiguous as race, which is prevalent in Agnes Scott’s newspapers.
“Taking Off the Rings” is related to our timeline. Many papers in “Taking Off the Rings” discussed the idea of a “public secret”. The public secret is that there have always been queer people on Agnes Scott campus, but it was another issue whether or not it was apparent. Overall, the timeline shows that Agnes Scott has attempted to make its campus more diverse in every way, but there is always room for more improvement.
After putting together a timeline of queer diverse social events, I have concluded that Agnes Scott is constantly striving to move forward. Agnes Scott is moving towards being more diverse in every possible way, be it racially, sexually, religiously, and ethnically, etc. However, not every event or controversy over/about queer events will be reported in the college’s newspaper. Agnes Scott gets an “A” for effort and consistently striving for a more diverse campus, but it is another matter whether the campus is inclusive.
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