Pride and not prejudice

Gay? Lesbian? Bi? We've all seen these signs around campus and perhaps some of us have wondered what they are all about. They advertise Awareness Week and, in my opinion, they do a pretty good job of raising questions about being LGBT at Princeton. What I've realized, however, is that many people misunderstand Awareness Week. Even some of my good friends, people with very open minds who are fairly knowledgeable and very willing to learn about LGBT issues, were somewhat confused.

Some may be wondering what LGBT actually means. I know I've used the term before and received some puzzled looks. LGBT is an acronym for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and it serves, for the time being, to refer to, dare I say, 'non-mainstream' sexuality. The Pride Alliance, formerly known as the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Alliance, is an umbrella organization that deals with LGBT and Straight Ally issues.

So now the question is, what's a "Straight Ally?" Like the name suggests, an ally is someone who supports the LGBT community, though he or she is heterosexual. Let me assure you, this is not a gay person who just 'hasn't come out yet.' The Pride Alliance's Straight Ally program is set up for straight people who want to help gay friends they might have or who want merely to show support for the LGBT community.

Tomorrow is one of the LGBT's biggest and maybe most misunderstood events: Gay Jeans Day. I've heard people criticize Gay Jeans Day as manipulative, underhanded and even stupid. I confess that even I didn't quite grasp the concept of it before someone explained it to me. What, one might ask, does wearing jeans have to do with being gay? Doesn't everyone wear jeans all the time? Why is the Pride Alliance making a big deal out of wearing jeans? The answer is simple: Wearing jeans is an everyday, typical and normal thing. And so is being gay. As it says on the Awareness Week bulletin, "Being gay and supporting the LGBT community should be as comfortable as your favorite pair of jeans."

Thursday, Oct. 11 is National Coming Out Day, and there is a rally at noon in front of Frist to raise awareness on campus. I've been asked why the LGBT community makes such a big deal about coming out. Isn't it a personal thing? I respond that we live in a predominately heterosexual world where people assume you are straight unless you tell them otherwise. Being in the closet and feeling like you need to hide a large part of who you are is one of the worst things in the world — it would be like not being able to talk about where you were from or what your major was. Except worse. The big deal about coming out is the celebration that you're comfortable with being who you are. It is not an easy process, and a public forum is a good way for someone to feel the support and affirmation they need at a very sensitive time.

I'm sure that some people are questioning why the LGBT community feels the need to 'raise awareness' at all. I've heard people comment that gay people don't bother them, but they wish they wouldn't "flaunt it in their faces." The only reason that it seems as if we are "flaunting" it is because of a lack of awareness. As I said, this is a predominately straight world and being gay seems very different. And because it's different it sticks out when we talk about our partners, our social lives and some of our friends. But don't straight people talk about their partners, social lives and friends?

The point of Awareness Week and Pride Week in the spring is to raise consciousness about LGBT issues so that they don't seem so 'weird.' I'm not trying to change anyone's mind about these things; I just want to set some misunderstandings straight (no pun intended).

There is a lot of information at www.princeton.edu/~pride. Only by keeping an open dialogue will this campus and ultimately the world end the misunderstanding and confusion that lead to tragedies like the hate crime against Matthew Sheppard and the attack on the World Trade Center. John Lurz is an English major from Lutherville, MD. He can be reached at johnlurz@princeton.edu.