Virgilio Sklar '03 imagines a truly accepting University community, complete with a queer campus center, a queer studies department, active recruitment of homosexuals to campus and representation of homosexuals in admissions materials.
"The social makeup of the campus will not change unless we proactively validate all self-expressed identities and communities," Sklar said. "Without [pro-homosexual] policies, we will be accepting and imposing upon the students the norms of the majority and we will only be giving lip-service to diversity."
Driven by such visions, Sklar became a member of the Queer Radicals, a new unofficial organization with about 60 members formed at the beginning of the year as an alternative to the Pride Alliance. The group's goal is to create positive acknowledgement of its own and of other marginalized communities. It sets itself apart from such groups as the Pride Alliance, which they see as reactionary against preexisting negativity.
"I don't perceive [the group] as that radical," member Jessie Weber '05 said. "It is radical by Princeton standards, but I think it pushes for something that should be a norm: acceptance and respect for people of all sexual orientations and gender identities."
The group also seeks to challenge the mainstream ideas of sexuality, and rejects such words as "gay," "straight," and "lesbian," believing that they are too confining. Rather, the group uses the word "queer" to represent the fluidity and individuality of sexual identity.
The term queer "is not static," Sklar said. "It doesn't even mean the same thing to the same person every day."
"Queer" also includes the group's heterosexual members.
"To me queer is not just about sexual preference," said Lee Conderacci '04, a member of the Queer Radicals and a straight ally to the Pride Alliance. "It's about fluidity and being open and being able to make our own identity as an individual. We are independent of categories and notions put upon us by society."
The Queer Radicals declined to explain the group's origins or to specifically acknowledge any particular members as having had a strong role in its foundation. Most members have asked not to be identified.
"We don't want to associate the Queer Radicals with any one or two people because it's a group, a collective, and not the planning of any few people," Weber said.
The group lacks a traditional hierarchical structure and makes decisions based on consensus at its meetings to emphasize that no one's opinions take precedence over anyone else's.
The group is prepared to tackle "University policies and the campus climate," according to its mission statement. Members do not yet feel prepared to tackle "queerphobia" and other such issues on a larger scale.
The biggest and most immediate problem the group hopes to tackle is heterosexism — the assumption of heterosexuality — members said. The issue manifests itself in often-overlooked ways, such as when a girl asks her roommate if she met any interesting guys at the 'Street.' Weber also pointed to the freshman orientation program "Sex on a Saturday Night," which portrayed four heterosexual couples and no homosexual couples in its skit.
"A heterosexist environment on campus gives a green light to acts of homophobia and hatred," said Weber.
The Queer Radicals held their first event, a Kiss-In, to combat heterosexism Tuesday of last week. The event was meant as an affirmation of the queer community's presence on campus and of queers' refusal to hide their sexuality from the public.
"A lot of people say they're okay with gay people, but the Kiss-In pushed people's comfort level," said Weber. "Heterosexism needed to be challenged, and the Kiss-In challenged that. People needed to reexamine — why do I feel uncomfortable about this?"
The group's mission statement also emphasizes a desire to reach out to all minority populations. The group also hopes to gather support from other traditionally oppressed minority groups in mutually beneficial relationships.
Overall, the group stresses the importance of introducing the concept of queer to the campus. Their immediate goal is to promote discussion about the variances of sexual identity encompassed by the community.
"We don't have an antagonistic message," Weber said. "We want to spread the message that the queer community exists, that we will be treated with respect and that the queer community is a part of the campus culture."
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