In a joint effort to increase campus consciousness of sexuality issues, the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Questioning Ally group and other student organizations have declared October to be National Coming Out Month at Dartmouth.
The LGBTQA, the Gay-Straight Alliance and the Dartmouth Rainbow Alliance have worked with groups such as Hillel and Sigma Nu to plan events throughout the month. The goals are to raise awareness, address issues of prejudice and provide support for students.
National Coming Out Month was originally organized by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation as a one-day event inviting gay and lesbian students to come out.
Organizations at Dartmouth expanded the timeframe to facilitate more events and to coincide with Gay and Lesbian History Month.
Kevin Jennings, a representative of the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network, kicked off events earlier this month. Jennings spoke of making "all schools safe for all students" to a packed Filene Auditorium.
Scheduled events for NCOM include concerts, films, discussions, guest speakers and a retreat. Today, a Speak Out at Collis will take place in the afternoon, followed by Coming Out Stories in Brace Commons 9:00 p.m.
Attendance for the Coming Out Stories is expected to be high, said Assistant Dean of Student Life Pam Misener, who also serves as Advisor to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender students.
Another highly anticipated event is a reading by Leslea Newman, the author of controversial children's book "Heather Has Two Mommies." Newman plans to discuss the cultural implications of being a Jewish lesbian woman.
Later in the month, musician Alicia Deeny will give a free concert. Deeny will conduct a post-concert discussion in which she will talk about her experiences being a gay Latina woman in the music industry.
Rollins Chapel will host an interfaith service on spirituality, with the hope that it will show spirituality is not "exclusive to heterosexuals," Misener said.
Doug Mastin '04 organized A "Day of Silence" in which students were encouraged to be silent to raise awareness of the "invisibility that can be imposed" on homosexuals. The silence ends today at noon in conjunction with National Coming Out Day.
Mastin, who did not break his silence for an interview with The Dartmouth, scribbled on a notepad that the situation for LGBTQA students has improved at Dartmouth, but "it can always be better."
And even though Allyson Wendt '02 is comfortable with the situation at Dartmouth, she said she knows students who "don't feel safe about being open and out".
Misener concurred. "The potential to feel different here is great," she said. Because of Dartmouth's small size, "it is easy for students to feel isolated and alone.
