New Object

MICHAEL WIRTZ





May Mon Post

The problem, of course, was that we didn’t live in the
BGALA world. Sure, we organized dances with good

turnouts. But we couldn’t go to “other people's” dances our-

Baer MO

Presire this: An extravagantly decorated and colorfully lit
Founders Great Hall where professional drag queens and stu-
dent and faculty amateurs perform on a long runway. A
cheering multi-college crowd of students, faculty members,
deans and the president, many dressed as members of oppo-
site sex or flamboyantly “hoochified,” watching, performing
and dancing the night away. Girls dressed as boys dancing
with other girls, boys dressed as girls dancing with other boys
dressed as girls, boys dressed as boys dancing with any com-
bination of the above. All this is happening at Haverford’s
biggest and best received party event in recent history, Taste
the Rainbow, where everyone is happy together in a space in
which everything goes, regardless of gender identity or sexual
orientation. This is Haverford putting itself to the test at a
queer-organized, queer-sponsored, and queer-celebrating
event — a large step beyond what our community is usually
willing or able to accept or promote.

The day-to-day life of bisexual, gay, lesbian, and transgen-

selves with our dates without being stared or snickered at. |

couldn't even hold a girlfriend's hand without people look-
ing at us out of the corner of their eyes. One day during
Gay Pride Week, we had some same-sex couples kissing on
the steps of the dining room. I heard many people com-

lain about how disgusting that was! Iwo people in partic-
ular told me how they actually felt like vomiting after hav-
ing seen two men (my friends) kissing. When | told
them | was one of the people on the steps,
one said “Oh, really? But you don't look like
a dyke.” And the other concurred, “Yeah,
we don’t think of you as one of them.”

So, I don’t know. It’s good that we felt free to wear our

ink buttons in public. We didn't feel threatened enough
not to hold hands in public. We felt like we could even
have a kiss-in. We had a BGALA lounge. We had a vocal
BGALA, which, by the way, won an award in 1995. And
we even threw some good dances. Maybe Haverford was
better off than the real world, but in many ways, that was

only on the surface.

May Mon Post is a second-year student at Temple University School
of Law. She received a Master’ degree in Women’s Studies and
Social Justice from the University of Pennsylvania, and was a Steer-
ing Committee member of BGALA while she was at Haverford



der students and those questioning and challenging their
gender and/or sexual identities at Haverford (present-day
activists and academics identify all these groups with the
cumulative term “queer”) is not always a celebration. There
are many issues one has to confront in this small and some-
times conservative community setting. Along with these
concerns come the many benefits of being queer at Haver-
ford, which are just as important to establish as the trou-
bling aspects.

Coming out as a queer person at Haverford, where one
need not fear physical threats and can generally count on
the concern and support of other community members,
can be a rewarding and enriching experience. Seldom
will one find a place like this where one can
explore one’s identity in both a personal
and intellectual manner, and gain the self-
confidence to face the world as an openly
queer person. However, coming out on campus



FALL 1999

2