Visibility Week Opens Eyes, Minds

Author: Andrea LaRocca

"Next time you hit on a guy, don't ask if he has a girlfriend but ask if he's been seeing any guys lately. Make people come out as being straight instead of being gay!" An audience of students and faculty applauded this statement on Thursday night at "Undressing Sexuality: Diverse Perspectives."
"Undressing Sexuality" was the culmination of Visibility Week, a moqa (Middlebury Open Queer Alliance) sponsored week devoted to increasing awareness about gay life on campus. Earlier events during the week included a lecture by openly gay Vermont House Representative Bill Lippert and a day of silence to symbolize the unheard voices of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer (GLBTQ) community. The purpose of the week and these events according to moqa President Chris Atwater '03, was "to present sexuality in an accessible manner, out in the open, without being apologetic or antagonistic." In that same sprit, "Undressing Sexuality" was a chance to begin what moqa hopes to be an on-going campus dialogue about sexuality.
"Undressing Sexuality" consisted of a panel of student representatives from moqa, MIX, Feminist Action at Middlebury (FAM) and the Progressives as well as Assistant Professor of Philosophy Heidi Grasswick. The panel addressed why is it important for minority groups, both visible and invisible, to support each other on campus. Panelists also explored the intersection of sexuality and ethnicity, race, religion or gender and whether one's view of sexuality has been influenced by one's involvement with a diversity group or your experience as a minority.
Each member of the panel had a chance to address these issues from a personal perspective as well as from the perspective of each student organization.
Event organizer Jena Siegel '04 commented, "We wanted to bring together a group of people from different backgrounds, with different experiences, to all speak on sexuality, and everyone did an excellent job of sharing their stories with the group."
The result was several different viewpoints about sexuality and how it functions on the Middlebury campus, but the overlap in thought was best explained by one panelist: "Race, class, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity or anything else, we need to learn to understand and appreciate each other."
A discussion between the audience and the panel followed, and students and faculty members asked questions, told their personal stories and expressed their opinions about changing the status of sexuality on campus. One comment not only led to another but also created a common understanding and bond among participants. For example, a student who is an open lesbian told how many people have reacted to her sexuality with denial saying, "Girls can't really be gay. They decide to be gay if they have a bad experience with a man." Many of the audience members responded by empathizing with the articulated disbelief and by telling about their own coming out experiences.
For some people, the night was about listening to, understanding and supporting fellow students through these kinds of connections.
For others, it was simply about learning more about sexuality and people.
For all, however, "Undressing Sexuality" began a dialogue that Siegel said she hoped would be "a solid beginning to a more widespread discussion of sexuality and diversity." This was the exact purpose of Visibility Week, and the importance of this communication is what was realized in "Undressing Sexuality."
Another panelist said, "What we call ourselves does matter, but we need to allow for the interaction of and the communication between these labels, terms and words because they change and what one means to me may not be what it means to you."