Students Subject To Homophobia

Editor's Note: This is the first in a series of three articles exploring the issue of homophobia on campus.

Boston College students who have experienced homophobia on campus do not all define it the same way. "I think that it is definitely something greater than ignorance, that is more than just a fear of homosexuality," said Casey Covarrubias, A&S '11. "I think it stems more from a fear that people may think you're gay."

"I wouldn't necessarily say it's fear of homosexuals, but I think it can also be ignorance and not thinking about what you're saying or what you're doing," said Larissa Belcic, A&S '10.

"I think it stems from a basic assumption that there aren't queer people out there, or that others have a superiority over them," said Tony Jennaro, LSOE '10. "It doesn't have to be entirely aggressive or necessarily direct, but it can come out in word choice or assumptions about gender." Jennaro is the author of a letter to the editor published in the Nov. 5 edition of The Heights titled "A Story of Halloween Homophobia." In the letter, Jennaro described a series of homophobic encounters he had over the course of last Halloween.

These students, who all identify as GLBTQ, said that their experience of BC has not entirely been of a place of tolerance. In their classes, social interactions, even walks across the Dustbowl, they said that homophobia and homophobic behavior in one form or another is prevalent in campus life. "I think that we have a lot of joking around the stereotype of Boston's Closet - I think that these are realities," Jennaro said. "BC has a culture that for some reason keeps a lot of the queer community in the closet."
The reasons behind this are complicated, the students said. Unlike race, sexual orientation is not immediately visible, and so homophobia targets traits and behavior considered stereotypically homosexual.  The pressure on students who identify as GLBTQ to conform to gender roles makes some students unwilling to come out, and whether or not a student is out, romantic relationships with a student of the same sex are always made more complicated by a homophobic atmosphere. "You're always going to have to navigate who is out and who's not," Jennaro said. "It's certainly very hard to meet people. What social setting are you going to go to and find a majority of queer students?"

Covarrubias said that men on campus are often more accepting of her as a lesbian than they may be of homosexual men. Her former relationship with another female student was still made difficult, she said, by homophobic attitudes. "The last girlfriend I had here - we didn't break up because of those reasons, but there were so many little things, like guys asking us to make out," she said. "There are just so many annoyances that I would rather not deal with." These annoyances, she said, can extend to the most mundane aspects of a relationship. "Some people are way more comfortable with holding hands. I was very comfortable with my ex-girlfriend.

"There are so many closeted people here, that makes it really difficult," Covarrubias said. "It's really hard if someone comes up to you and you're interested in them, but they don't want anyone to know. That makes it really difficult to have a healthy relationship."
Other students often seem confused about the relationships GLBTQ students have, Belcic said. "I'm bisexual, and I have a boyfriend," she said. "A lot of people don't understand how it works or think that I am lying." Her boyfriend, she said, is involved in the GLBTQ Leadership Council (GLC).  He encounters homophobic attitudes not because he identifies as GLBTQ, she said, but because he advocates for GLBTQ issues. "I think he gets more flak not because of me but because of his own involvement," she said. As far as his dating her goes, Belcic said, intolerant attitudes have hit close to home. "The only negative response he's gotten is from his family," she said. "They probably think I'm going to leave him for a woman at any second."

Belcic said that it is not uncommon for students who do not identify as GLBTQ but who advocate for GLBTQ issues to face such discrimination. "Just like it takes strength to be a member of the gay community, it takes a lot to be an advocate or an ally, too."
Belcic and Covarrubias said that men at BC are more accepting, in a way, of GLBTQ women than of GLBTQ men. "I think guys are more accepting of hot girls making out. It's a frat-boy mentality," Belcic said.

"The guys here that I've met are OK with lesbians if they're 'hot' lesbians," Covarrubias said.

Though the students said they want to always be advocates of GLBTQ causes, the constant pressure to defend this one aspect of their person can be wearing. "I kind of feel like I have to show it, I have to be proud of it," Covarrubias said. "It's become such a huge part of who I am because I have to be proud of it."

However, turning heads, she said, will not prevent her from living a full student life. "I would feel way more comfortable in my city, or in my community. I would feel much more comfortable holding someone's hand there than walking across campus," she said. "That's not going to stop me."