Come out! Get educated!

Author: KEVIN MOSS

COME OUT! If you don't come out you've absorbed the message of those who hate us and you're doing exactly what they want you to do. Stop helping the homophobes! There's absolutely no excuse for anyone to be in the closet at Middlebury in 2006. You are protected by College policy, state law and an overwhelmingly supportive faculty, staff and student body. The only reason not to come out is internalized homophobia - buying the myth that the sky will fall if you come out. Most of these excuses are based on myth; your parents won't disown you and it won't kill your grandmother. Really, it won't. If you don't come out, on the other hand, it may very well kill you; those on the DL are much more likely to have unsafe sex. Closeted men are also much more likely to be involved in harassment (see the mayor of Spokane or the Catholic priests' scandal), so it's in society's interests for everyone to be out.

I'm also tired of the "post-gay and avoiding labels" line. It's really just one more lame excuse to stay in the closet and buy into homophobia. You're not challenging the system, you're just hiding. But even coming out is only the first step - it's great, but it's hardly the great accomplishment it used to be. It took balls to come out at Middlebury in the 60s and even in the 80s. Not now. Being out should be taken for granted.

GET EDUCATED! Once you're out, learn what being gay means. Learn some history. Read a book. There's no need for each new generation to reinvent the wheel. African-American students learn from their families what to expect. They also learn who Martin Luther King, Jr., was, who Rosa Parks was, who Frederick Douglass was, who got them where they are today. How many Middlebury students learned gay history from their parents? Maybe they took it in high school? How many Middlebury gay students know Harry Hay, Frank Kameny or even Larry Kramer before last month? The Daughters of Bilitis? What happened at Stonewall?

If you're one of our language or International Studies students, do you know the gay culture of the country you study? Do gay students of French know Gide, Genet, Proust? Do gay German students learn about Hirschfeld and the gay rights movement? Do gay students of Spanish read Arenas and Puig and know all the films of Almodovar? These are things you could be learning about in college - if they're not taught, find out why. If there are courses, take them. Read some gay novels. At the very least, read the Advocate online.

DO SOMETHING! Once you've learned something from history and literature, do something with your knowledge. The world we live in (even Middlebury and Vermont) needs work. We're still second-class citizens here: we're not allowed to apply the sacred words "marriage" and "divorce" to our unions. At 20 you may think this is not important, but consider this: Your girlfriend goes off to Italy or Russia and falls in love with a boy. She invites him here on a special visa; they get married; he gets citizenship; they stay together. If a boy from the States falls in love with a boy abroad, forget it. Why doesn't this annoy you? Just wait till it happens.

How about "Don't Ask, Don't Tell?" Our brilliant gay language students (trust me, there are more than one or two) are automatically disqualified. Does this policy serve anyone? Do you feel safer knowing that the military now takes high school dropouts with criminal records, but certainly not smart Middlebury language grads who happen to be gay. This absurd policy generated a protest of perhaps 10 students last year.

AIDS is still a problem too, though you could always follow the official U.S. policy and choose abstinence while you wait for marriage to happen.

Do something: write a letter, put on a play, find a vaccine, but do something!