In what event organizers said was an effort to show alumni that support for the LGBT community at the College has increased in the past 25 years, the Dartmouth Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Alumni/ae Association held its 25th anniversary all-class reunion this past weekend.
The reunion included lectures and panel discussions, as well as social events, including an awards dinner on Saturday night.
"Looking back and celebrating 25 years is a great opportunity for older alums to see Dartmouth as open and welcoming and warm from the administration and students," Kamil Walji '03, a member of the DGALA board of directors, said in an interview with The Dartmouth. "It makes a difference for alums who might have had bad experiences here."
Joanne Herman '75, who graduated from the College as a male student and transitioned in 2002 to live as a female, said that she chose not to visit the College for nearly 30 years after her graduation, believing that it would not be a "comfortable environment."
"There were no resources; no one was out," Herman said of her experience as an LGBT student during the 1970s. "How things have changed."
After a positive experience at the 2004 DGALA reunion, Herman said she decided to come to her own class reunion the next year.
Other alumni also cited difficulties at Dartmouth as LGBT students.
"It's such a different world now," Thomas Song '53, the oldest member of DGALA, said. "Sixty years ago, when I enrolled, homosexuality was a sin, a crime, it was unspeakable."
Song, who is openly gay, was also one of the few Korean students enrolled at the College during the Korean War.
"My [sexual] orientation was the least of my problems," he said.
Allen Drexel '91 and Michael Guzman '06 led Saturday's panel discussion, "The DGALA History Project," touching on Dartmouth's past. They said administrators and students at the College were not always open toward LGBT students. Drexel said the College's remote location, as well as its long history as a men's college, likely contributed to a hyper-masculine culture that was not always welcoming to gay men. Especially during Dartmouth's all-male period, homophobia used to be seen as proof of one's own virility, Drexel said.
He said that he felt somewhat marginalized by Dartmouth students as a gay student in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
"As a gay man, I hadn't really had the Dartmouth experience," Drexel said. "To be LGBT was to lack full citizenship here."
Guzman said that he knew fewer LGBT students at Dartmouth than in his Connecticut hometown.
"When I was here, there was no support for LGBT students," DGALA secretary Peter Williams '76 said in an interview with The Dartmouth. "You would get sent to Dick's House if they thought you were gay."
College President Jim Yong Kim discussed the LGBT community's history at Dartmouth during his speech at the group's welcome reception on Friday night.
"I understand that at various points at Dartmouth College, life might not have been so sweet for LGBT students," he said. "The fact that you can come back is very meaningful to us, and we are glad to have you back."
Gene Robinson, the ninth bishop of New Hampshire, spoke about reconciling perceived differences between tenets of Christianity and the LGBT community in a lecture on "Faith and Sexuality" on Saturday. Robinson, known for being the first gay, non-celibate bishop of a major Christian denomination, gave the invocation at President Barack Obama's inauguration earlier this year.
"He wanted us to realize that sexual orientation and religion don't have to be exclusive of each other," Sarah Burgamy '00, who helped coordinate the reunion, said.
Acting Dean of the College Sylvia Spears praised the event, although she said there is still room for Dartmouth to improve on LGBT issues.
"It's wonderful to bring alums and students together to see how the College has changed to be more accepting," Spears said. "There has been lots of growth, but there is always more room to grow to make Dartmouth better for the LGBT community."
