ACT OUT, QCVC: Come on out!

Sarah Siegel Life Editor

“I think, at Vassar, you must be intentionally ignorant to be homophobic.”

“Sometimes it is shocking for kids who have never seen gay PDA to see it for the first time. This is understandable.”
Homophobia at Vassar “is not prevalent, but perhaps closeted itself.”

These were some of the anonymous answers to a campus survey on sexuality conducted recently by ACT OUT, a student organization dedicated to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) advocacy. ACT OUT will incorporate the survey results into the programming for Coming Out Week, the week dedicated to awareness of LGBTQ issues nationwide. ACT OUT and the Queer Coalition of Vassar College (QCVC) are organizing campus events intended to raise awareness of and discussion about GLBTQ issues from Oct. 8-12.

“I’m very excited about going to the Coming Out Slam,” said ACT OUT president Julia Golomb ’08. “It’s a space for poetry, songs—personal expression of any kind.” National Coming Out Day is Thursday, Oct. 11.

Both ACT OUT and QCVC have a reputation for provocative advocacy. QCVC is responsible for campus favorites such as Gays of Our Lives, and six members of ACT OUT were arrested last fall for their role in a sit-in protesting the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy at the Armed Forces Recruiting Station in Times Square.

The week begins with a Monday Oct. 8 lecture by John Amaechi, the first openly gay professional basketball player, followed by a Tuesday, Oct. 9 reception for queer students and faculty. On Wednesday, Oct. 10 there will be both “Come Out and Play,” a time for kickball and bubble-blowing on the residential quad, and a 7 p.m. open mic for student and faculty coming out stories, followed by a Coming Out Slam.

The week’s centerpiece will be a giant closet constructed in the middle of the quad, plastered with the personal testimonies of people who identify as queer. Inside the exaggerated closet structure will be stories of people who are still “in the closet”—from Vassar students who fear their parents’ reactions to West Point students. The closet’s exterior will be covered with the stories of people who have already come out.

“It’s nice to see people all gather and talk about their different stories,” said QCVC President Alison Abreu-Garcia ’08. “A lot of them are funny and a lot are more intense.”

The coming out stories and Coming Out Slam will be held in the Rose Parlor on Wednesday, Oct. 10 at 7 p.m. (coming out stories at 7 followed by the slam). If you want to share a coming out story, contact director of Blegen House Julie Silverstein at jusilverstein@vassar.edu. For more information about the slam contact Dominic Schuler at anschuler@vassar.edu.