The goals of Seeking Common Ground (SCG) are three-fold: (1) Increasing campus awareness of, and strategizing ways to counteract, hate crimes directed toward women, peoples of color, and the LGBT community, (2) addressing racism in the LGBT organizations and homophobia and heterosexism in organizations of students of color, and (3) creating inter-organizational efforts to counteract discrimination and address community concerns. During its first year, Karlene Burrell-McRae, Assoc. Director of the GIC, led the project as a Social Work Intern at the LGBT Center and worked earnestly to achieve its ambitious goals.

The first effort of the project yielded a successful Town Meeting that addressed hate crimes. Cosponsored by the United Minorities Council, the event featured several esteemed panelist including Dr. Elisabeth Young-Bruehl, a local psychoanalyst, Emily Greytak of the Anti-Defamation League and Joo-Hyun Kang, Director of New York City’s Audre Lorde Project. The panelist addressed the issue of hate crimes from various perspectives and were followed by accounts of those who had been victims of hate crimes. Following the panel and discussion, a vigil began at the steps of the GIC to the Peace Symbol at the center of campus. Once there, a student shared her personal experiences in which her family was the target of racially motivated harassment and attacks.

On February 25-26, 2000, 23 student leaders, diverse in gender, race, ethnicity and sexual orientation, came together for the Seeking Common Ground Summit. Three professional facilitators guided the students through series of workshops built to stimulate dialogue about racism, and heterosexism, and homophobia, to explore their similarities and differences, and to investigate the need for inter-organizational collaborations and the challenges that come with it. The summit had a positive outcome and yielded one of the most successful events of the project, “A Vigil for Amadou Diallo and a Panel Discussion around Police Misconduct in Minority Communities.”

The vigil was held not only in memory of Amodou Diallo, but also for the many other minorities that have suffered by those meant to protect and serve them. The discussions that followed not only addressed issues of police misconduct and the legal politics that further victimizes minorities, but it also addressed the effects that it has on the various communities and families. As evidenced by the 180 students in attendance, it was an issue that was struck the hearts of the diverse group.

In April, SCG concluded by joining the Women’s Center and Take Bake the Night to present a viewing and discussion of “No!” a documentary about sexual violence in communities of color. Although this event was not as heavily attended as the others, it brought to light the importance of breaking the silence of rape within communities of color.

Despite a successful first year effort, an analysis of the year’s programs raised several challenges to the future of the project. Though many relevant issues were addressed in the events supported by SCG, it has not yet fully fostered the inter-organizational collaboration that it sought to achieve. As a result, we applied for and received funding from the Provost’s Diversity Fund for a second year.

This year, the project will be headed by Michael Hartwyk and myself. Modeling on the success and challenges of the past year and our visions for the future of SCG, we are interested in fostering the intra-community dialogue that is necessary to precede any effective collaborative effort. Issues of homophobia must be directly addressed in organizations of color, just as issues of racism in the LGBT community. They continue to hinder effective alliance building. Mike and I intend to devote the first half of this year to fostering such intra-group discourse a well as researching models of effective inter-group organization on other campuses and associations. It is our aim to take from this research a pragmatic approach to building bridges between PENN’s minority communities.

For far too long LGBT and people of color have worked separately toward the same ends. What SCG intends to do is create an awareness among the peoples of these communities so that their burden does not have to be carried alone. While it recognizes the need for individual community action, it also stresses the power and importance of collaborative efforts between groups. Building bridges can only create more avenues to the rainbow we are all looking to reach.

~Ninah Harris is a senior Sociology major, big shoe/short skirt minor from New York.

A Little Greener

“NO FAGS: A tradition since the beginning.”

While pacing through a cafeteria at Texas A&M University, I read this message, which was boldly printed upon a T-shirt worn by one of my fellow students. Although I was disheartened, I must unfortunately admit that I was not terribly surprised. Homophobia is ingrained in Texan culture. Many Texans, however, will boast of Southern hospitality, but I daresay that I rarely encountered it beyond superficial pleasantries.

Beneath the smiles, sunshine, and handshakes, I most vividly recall the confederate flags, sexism, and religious extremists of the Bible Belt. When, as an undergraduate at Texas A&M, our university president vetoed a measure recommended by the faculty senate to protect students from discrimination and harassment based upon sexual orientation, I thought to myself, “Surely, I can find something more.”

Thus, I was inspired to transfer schools. As I researched many of the nation’s prestigious universities, I came upon PENN; a reputable school located in a metropolitan area of the Northeast, perhaps the most sophisticated region of the nation. Being an Ivy League school, I knew I would encounter an environment of academic excellence and highly motivated peers.

It was the humbleness of PENN, however, that I found most endearing, the fact that it did not carry with it the pretense associated with Harvard or Yale. Therefore, when the moment arrived at which I was to choose from those universities to which I had been admitted, I intuitively passed on tempting offers from Berkeley and Rice so that I might attend this curious Philadelphia university of which few of my Texan peers had even heard.

Well, the summer passed, and I finally stepped upon the airplane that would take me from Houston to Philadelphia. As I departed from my native state, the only state and culture I had ever really known, I looked to the new environment that I was entering mostly upon faith. Would the grass truly be greener, as the cliché goes? Would my intuition be validated or impeached? I had waited long enough to find out.

I was honestly quite lonely during my first two weeks, but gradually, I began to meet others. I made a few visits to the LGBT Center, where I met the, er, charming individuals who were soon to become my co-workers (hee, hee), as well as the “regulars” who frequent the third floor of 3537 Locust Walk. However, my social life truly began to take flight upon attending A Gay Affair, sponsored by the Queer Student Alliance. Through a series of fun, corny games and the opportunities for casual conversation that followed, I truly began to know and enjoy the individuals who are becoming my friends and confidantes here at PENN.

Thus, a month has passed here in my new home, a month of long walks, campus performing arts groups, visits to Center City, early morning classes, and intimate conversations. I find myself surrounded by a student body in which, as I had hoped, the individuals are more mature, tolerant, and intelligent (regardless of sexual orientation). As for the Center, my Texan friends are actually quite astounded that PENN students enjoy such a resource.

Perhaps it is naïve to declare my impressions of my new environment so soon in my career here at PENN. However, given my experiences thus far, I must admit that I have indeed found the grass (and the ivy) to be a more appealing shade of green.

~Kent Carter is a junior Psychology major, “Star Wars” minor from Texas.

OUT & In-Focus: Alex Gino '99

When the LGBT Center staff sat down to discuss the next person interviewed for our alumni interview, the discussion quickly lead to the fact that we had never featured a transgender person. Once we decided to focus our energies on a transgender alum, those of us who know Alex Gino immediately felt that ze would be the most likely candidate for this honor.

Alex left hir indelible mark on PENN. While at PENN, ze was a work-study student at the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Center (now the LGBT Center), the corresponding secretary of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Alliance during hir sophomore and hir senior years, and a co-chair of the LGBA during hir junior year. Ze was also chair of the Bisexual Gay Lesbian Transgender Awareness Days planning committee during hir sophomore year and co-chair during hir senior year with Kurt Klinger.

Alex also can be credited with bring the term “transgender” out of the closet on campus. Her efforts were pivotal in the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Center changing its name to the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Center and partially to the LGBA movement to alter its name to be more inclusive of persons with varying gender identities. Similarly, ze also fought the administration of the University to include American Sign Language in the College of General studies curriculum.

If Alex’s activities at PENN speak to hir desire to shape and define hir future, hir upbringing also assisted in that development. From the time ze was a small child hir parents created what ze called “a pretty gender-neutral household,” in which a child could choose hir dress and hir toys without the gender norms that would be found in a traditional home. Alex stated that ze “never identified as female” and by the age of 14 ze was actively pondering the gender system that exists in our culture. Ze even had a gender-neutral pseudonym for hirself in hir penpal relationship (“Psÿche” for those of you with over-inquisitive minds).

Through hir adolescence, Alex began to realize that ze was “not trapped in the wrong body, but trapped in the wrong culture.” This conceptualization of gender made hir feel like an outsider until ze read Gender Outlaw by Kate Bornstein after hir sophomore year at PENN. The validation that ze received from Bornstein’s words inspired hir to fight for the inclusion of transgender issues on PENN’s campus.

Since graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, Alex moved from the East Coast for a stay in Chicago before ze returned to the Philadelphia area last spring. Since moving back to Philly, ze has acquired a job as the Office Manager at the Patrick Center for Environmental Research at the Academy of Natural Sciences.

Alex has also started taking hormones to alter hir physical appearance. Ze has been taking 1cc of testosterone mixed with cottonseed oil every two weeks for approximately two months. Hir body has started to show the signs of these hormones. Hir voice has deepened and ze has started to develop facial hair. In the future, hir clitoris will sprout and thicken to approximately 1.5” unaroused, hir bodies muscle/fat distribution will be altered, and her ovaries and mamaries will atrophy and shrink. At this point in hir life, Alex does not plan on having hir breasts completely removed.

After reading this description of Alex’s transition, a common assumption would be to label hir as a “Female-to-Male Transsexual.” Ze does not wish to identify hirself in this manner, however. Hir preferred title is “transgender” or if one must have something more specific “Female-TOWARD-Male.” To hir this represents the fluidity of hir gender and hir identity.

Ze is also a published writer, ironicallly for something that ze wrote as an undergraduate at PENN. One of hir Daily Pennsylvanian editorials about gender can be found in Male/Female Roles part of the Opposing Viewpoints Series by Greenhaven Press. The editorial can also be found online at the Daily Pennsylvanian’s website at dailypennsylvanian.com through a search for hir name or hir column’s title “My Cleverly Titled Column”.

Alex Gino has transformed the LGBT community, the PENN community, and hirself. Hir transition is a personal triumph and a public lesson about the value of living outside the box as well as thinking about the box itself.

~Michael Hartwyk is a senior Sociology major, “Being John Malkovich” minor from New Jersey.

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In Review... Beginning of the year events

The LGBT Center started off the 2001 academic year with an impressive lineup of orientation events aimed at informing the LGBT and allied community of the queer resources available both at PENN and in the Philadelphia area.

You Are Not the Only One
New queer students at PENN can easily feel alone in what they are going through. As a result, the Center sponsors “You Are Not the Only One” so new students can meet others who are experiencing similar things. This year’s event brought out about a dozen new students who, in addition to simply meeting one another, listened as four sophomores shared their experiences from their first years at PENN.

The Gayborhood: A Walking Tour of Queer Philadelphia
Fourteen new students, led by Bob Schoenberg and Erin Cross, ventured to the Gayborhood on Tuesday, September 5. They started at the William Way Community Center where a staff member gave them a tour of the facility. Erin and Bob then showed the group a few of the local gay owned and operated establishments, including Giovanni’s Room and Afterwords, and then enjoyed a reception at Millennium coffee.

“Orientation” Orientation
The Center’s annual resource fair of PENN and Philadelphia area organizations took place on Thursday, September 7, in the Terrace Room of Logan Hall and attracted over seventy-five people. Visitors picked up information about, and talked to representatives from, such groups as the Queer Student Alliance, Safeguards, Student Health Services, the Attic, BEBASHI, Colours, P-FLAG, the Greenfield Intercultural Center, and the Transgender Health Action Coalition.

LGBT Center Open House
There are never more people in the LGBT Center as when it opens its doors to the public for its popular open house! This year’s event took place on Wednesday, September 13. Wall-to-wall people enjoyed tasty hors d’oeuvres and fabulous conversation while taking a closer look at the resources provided by the Center as well as meeting the staff.

~Kurt Klinger is a senior computer science major, GAP minor from Pennsylvania.

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The "B" in LGBT

In October 1999, I attended a candlelight vigil in honor of Matthew Shepard and other victims of hate crimes. Still saddened by his murder one-year prior, I felt compelled to memorialize this respectable, good-hearted, and promising young man who was cut down by hatred and bigotry. During the speakout following the vigil, I was sickened and outraged to learn that hate-crimes and harassment against queer people were prevalent in the University City community. Since that evening, I have wanted to become active in the queer community here at PENN. This year, I am happy to say that I am a staff member at the LGBT Center and can address such hatred, especially against the bisexual community.

Although, the letter “B” for bisexual is in the Center’s title, I noticed that very little information and resources were available concerning bisexuality for bi-queer students and those questioning their sexual orientation. In order to remedy this situation, I hope to promote bi visibility on campus by helping to do away with the myths associated with bisexuality and by increasing awareness of bisexual orientation.

What is bisexuality? A person who is bisexual is attracted sexually and emotionally to people of both genders. It is a distinct orientation. Many people assume that bisexuality is just a phase that gays and lesbians experience as they progress toward accepting their homosexuality. In actuality, the bisexual label is merely a matter of self-perception. People who identify as heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual may have relationships with both women and men, regardless of their sexual identity. A recent study of more that 900 bisexuals found that over one-third had previously identified as gay or lesbian (Ron Fox as quoted at www.biresource.org). So, bisexuality may be either a transitional period in the process of sexual discovery, or a life-long identity.

Just because a person identifies as bisexual, it does not mean that he or she will indiscriminately fuck anything that cannot get away. Bisexuals, like everyone else, have a wide variety of relationship styles. Contrary to common belief, a bisexual person does not need to be concurrently involved sexually with both a male and a female partner. Many bisexuals have long-term, monogamous relationships, as do heterosexuals, gay men, and lesbians. Other bisexuals choose to have polyamorous relationships, open marriages or group marriages that permit sexual encounters with same-sex or opposite sex partners, within or outside of the primary relationship. Whatever the relationship type, honest communication is an essential component, regardless of sexual orientation.

Like gay men and lesbians, bisexuals also experience oppression because of their sexual orientation. This is commonly referred to as biphobia. Counter to the popular assumption, I believe that an openly bisexual person (or someone who is thought to be bisexual) who is in a heterosexual union does not have the comfort of heterosexual privilege. In fact, I have found that bigoted heterosexuals assume that bi-queers are constantly on the hunt for sexual encounters, liable to molest young children and are single-handedly responsible for the spread of HIV within the straight community.

Unfortunately, biphobia also occurs within the queer community. Queers among queers, in my experience bisexuals are usually considered to be unreliable, untrustworthy and mentally unstable. Bisexual women (“half-dykes”) are often accused of spreading HIV and other STDs to lesbians. Bisexuals of both sexes are said to be frivolous and incapable of commitment. The prevalence of these stereotypes relegate bisexual people to third-class citizenship; first as straights, second as gay men or lesbians, and third as bisexuals.

In addition to experiencing discrimination in employment and housing similar to lesbians and gay men, bisexuals are also victims of anti-queer harassment and violence. Like Matthew Shepard, bisexual people are targeted because they have sexual and affectional relationships with people of the same sex. With my new position at the LGBT Center and as a proud member of the queer PENN community, I intend to participate in the difficult fight against anti-queer prejudice, harassment and hate crimes.

~Karen Seidler is a Women’s Studies Pre-Med major, Jedi Knight minor from Pennsylvania.

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The editorial staff of OUTlines seeks submissions from members of the Penn community. Poetry, stories, essays, and articles are all welcome. Inquiries and submissions should be sent to:

OUTlines c/o LGBT Center
3907 Spruce Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6031
(215) 898-5044
center@dolphin.upenn.edu
http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/lgbtc

OUTlines is published by the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Center at the University of Pennsylvania. OUTlines is a forum for reporting news and expressing thoughts of interest to the lesbian, gay, transgender, and bisexual community as well as the general community at Penn.