- The Record Archives
- Volume CXVIII, No. XIX - November 3, 2005 -
Longing for acceptance
understanding the minority: part 1
The Record
Editor's note: This is the first part of a three-week series exploring minority groups on campus. The majority of CSB/SJU students are heterosexual, Catholic and Caucasian. Despite a visible presence, these groups remain underrepresented and face challenges. Our goal is to make the issues they face more well-known.
Chris Brenny has been openly gay since his first year at CSB/SJU. But he said he still receives just as much discrimination and unwelcome attention four years later.
"I am constantly a novelty," said Brenny, an SJU senior. "I just can't feel like I can just relax and be myself."
The unaccepting atmosphere has forced him to think of transferring.
"Looking back, I don't know if I would have gone here in the first place if I had been out beforehand," Brenny said.
Most of the other openly homosexual students agree that CSB/SJU is an unwelcome atmosphere for them.
"I've never felt physically unsafe here," said senior Tim Aarons. "[But] I feel [students] zoom in on that and just focus on that."
Opposition
Brenny is one of the co-chairs of PRiSM, a campus organization for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender students (GLBT) as well as allies, supportive students. He said the club is often attacked for what they represent.
"We get a lot of hostile [e-mail] messages," Brenny said.
Sometimes people are less intentional about the discrimination. He and others said it's bothersome hearing some students use derogatory terms toward GLBT students.
"Someone will be walking and I'll hear remarks," Brenny said.
When fellow students find out he's gay, Brenny said he usually receives the same reaction.
"[I get] a lot of weird questions, [such as], ‘Were you born gay, or did you decide to be gay?'" he said. "You wonder how people can be just that uninformed.
Other students are less curious.
"The usual attitude is, ‘I don't care, just don't rub it in my face,'" he said. "But they don't realize that heterosexuality is everywhere, and is rubbed in everybody's faces."
Brenny and other GLBT students wonder why some believe it's ok for heterosexual students to show their affections by doing things like holding hands, but homosexuals can't.
Junior Chris Perisho said he has an answer.
"[The Catholic Church is] very careful to draw the distinction between homosexual orientation and homosexual actions," Perisho said. "Seeing two homosexuals holding hands comes down to them … acting on it. The action itself is wrong. They have the ability to choose not to act on it."
Perisho said he doesn't have a problem with homosexuals, as long as they don't act on it.
"I'm not out here to say homosexuals are horrible people," Perisho said. "As their brother of Christ, I'm calling them out on their sin. And I would hope they would call me out on mine."
Heterosexual allies
But some heterosexual students disagree.
Senior Amanda Crosby is one of the heterosexual members of PRiSM who represents the allies of GLBT students. She said she's ok with homosexuals being open and expressing their sexual identity.
"When people think of homosexuality, they think of promiscuity," Crosby said. "There are a lot of gay people in committed relationships like straight people."
Maggie Lally agrees that Perisho and others overreact.
"GLBT is over sexualized," said Lally, junior and co-chair of PRiSM. "There are a lot of misconceptions."
Crosby said she hopes other students will join PRiSM as allies.
"Just because someone is involved in GLBT issues, doesn't mean they're gay or lesbian," Crosby said. "It's very important for allies to be involved just to show support. I feel like equality for all people is important."
She first got involved with GLBT issues when several friends became open about their homosexuality. She feels that other students who aren't supportive of GLBTs would change their mind if they, too, got to know someone who is homosexual.
Unwelcome atmosphere
Both Crosby and GLBT students said that CSB/SJU is a difficult environment for homosexuals.
"I think it's just the demographic that we have here," Brenny said. "I think in just a rural area, people are not accustomed to encountering diversity. I suppose it's different at the U of M where you're thrown into this urban center where suddenly you have lots of races, lots of sexualities and all that stuff."
Aarons, who is originally from Jamaica, said that the homophobic atmosphere is a Midwestern issue.
"I think it's hard because of where we are, geographically," Aarons said. "Here, there's just not that much visibility."
The fact that St. Ben's and St. John's are separate schools could also affect the heterosexism on the campuses, said Brenny.
"The school reinforces so many gender stereotypes," he said. "[They] push this weird romantic agenda, and I just think people feel really, really self-conscious about that, and if they come out, they won't fit the mold the school has set up for everyone."
Of the almost 4,000 students at CSB/SJU, Aarons estimated there are only about 10 open homosexuals. He believes, however, there are many more.
"At least 300 students on the campus are gay, maybe even more," Aarons said, citing the statistic that 10 percent of the population is homosexual.
If that's true, Brenny said he thinks he understands why some students are reluctant to come out.
"For a school as large as we are, there should be a much larger population of gay students, [but] you get this distinct impression that this isn't a healthy environment where people feel safe being themselves," Brenny said. "If people can't accept themselves, then it says a lot about the environment on campus."
Several organizations on campus strive to support GLBT students. In addition to PRiSM, the Office of Student Human Rights and Diversity and the Campus Ministries.
A workshop run by Fr. Bob Pierson, the director of Campus Ministry, is held frequently at CSB/SJU. The workshop offers "safe space" training for all students to increase awareness of GLBT issues and how to be an ally to them. In the three years Pierson has organized them, he said about 200 people have gone through the workshops.
"We just need people to be willing to learn," Pierson said. "As a Catholic priest, I'm embarrassed by how we treat GLBT people. I'm going to do what I can do against this."
Hopeful future
For now, Brenny and others hope the environment will become more accepting. They offered suggestions to promote this.
Brenny said the schools should draw from a more diverse pool of students.
"Basically the school takes students from the most homogeneous environments," Brenny said.
Aarons said more homosexual students need to be open about their sexual identity.
"Visibility does matter," Aarons said. "I didn't know I was affecting change."
Aarons, Brenny and Lally said they experiences of coming out to their family and friends were positive, citing that they were supportive.
They both said heterosexual students should treat GLBT students the same as other students.
"I want you to look at me as a person," Aarons said. "[Homosexuality] is just a part [of your overall identity]."
As a senior, Brenny said he is ready to move on from CSB/SJU.
"I'm definitely ready to leave," Brenny said. "It's not a healthy place for GLBT students to live. I just want it to be normalized."