Forum addresses minority LGBT concerns

To examine the intersection between the issues of race and sexual orientation, the USG and the LGBT Peer Educators cosponsored a forum Wednesday night at Frist Campus Center.

"Students of color and LGBT persuasion know the reality," said Matt Margolin '05, USG president, during the event's opening speech. "Life is not perfect at Princeton."

Entitled "Keeping It Real: A Forum on Race and Sexual Orientation at Princeton," the event centered around the campus experience of ethnic LGBT students. The forum featured a panel of diverse students who shared their own personal experiences and an open public discussion.

As the first forum of its kind on campus, the event hopes to address the potentially difficult environment LGBT students of color are confronted with at the University.

"There is not a large community for LGBT students of color on campus," Debbie Bazarsky, assistant to the Dean of Undergraduate Students and LGBT student services coordinator said. "When LGBT students of color come here they're put in a box and they don't know whether to identify with groups of their race or groups of their sexual orientation."

Compounded with this problem is the threat of homophobia and racial slurs, she said.

While four of the five panelists were LGBT peer educators, all were of varying ethnicities and sexual orientations. Their personal stories also revealed the different ways each has adapted to University life.

Panelist Juan Gonzalez '06, a LGBT peer educator and president of the Chicano Caucus, has found it difficult dealing with his minority status within the LGBT community.

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"I face a lot of machismo. It's very difficult to be a queer student and a minority student," he said.

Gonzalez called on minorities "to recognize that there is a diversity within our communities, there is no one prototypical type."

The panelists also discussed the campus dating environment. Josephine Jim '04, as a lesbian and Native American, said she didn't feel comfortable dating other students on campus for three years.

"I felt like I couldn't be a minority and a queer student, so I took my queer identity off campus," Jim said.

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A major goal of the forum was to bring the issues into a constructive and safe space for students, Bazarsky said.

"For people who are afraid to speak about the issue, the forum will let them know that there is support for them on campus," Bazarsky said.

The event opened up dialogue about what should have been done and "what could be done to make Princeton a more welcoming space for LGBT students of color," she said.

Jon Hsu '04, a panelist and student chair of the LGBT task force, recommended that the University actively try to broaden its LGBT community.

"One solution is to have more students comfortable enough to come . . . or to recruit more queer students of color in general," Hsu said.

According to Margolin, the USG will also try to translate the event's discussion into reforms on campus.

"After tonight, we will take what the speakers say and what [the audience] says in response and put it into action," Margolin said. "Because sometimes listening just isn't enough. "By listening we show that we're there for our fellow Princetonians. By being proactive we show that we don't stand for a climate of fear."

Last night's event marked the third joint annual forum between the LGBT community and the USG.