Gay Yalies question 'Rolling Stone' article

BY JOE LIGHT

"The old prejudices have fallen away almost completely," declares Rolling Stone in a recent feature extolling the lack of pressures on gay students at Yale ["To be gay at Yale," RS, 10/11/01]. But on campus, some students are unsure whether that's the case, arguing that the article misrepresents the emotional toll of coming out at Yale.

STEVE YBARRA/YH Ethan Guillen, BK '02, J.C. Reindl, BK '03, and other openly gay Yalies were profiled in a recent issue of Rolling Stone.

"There are things that the article did that made it look easy to come out at Yale. It almost made it look like you should come out at Yale if you're gay," J.C. Reindl, BK '03, one of the students quoted in the article, said. "Although this community is very tolerant, you still have to live with your family and friends from back home."

The article described Yale as "the forefront of gay campus culture," to the point that "gay students at Yale no longer feel that being gay is a primary part of their identities." This portrayal, some students say, underestimates the anxieties felt by students as they consider coming out of the closet.

"At first I was hesitant; I didn't want to be labeled as `that gay guy across the hall,'" Reindl said. "I think that homosexuality should only involve what you do in the bedroom. Some events, like Pride Week, make being gay look like more of a lifestyle than it really is."

Other students, such as Evan Leatherwood, BR '02, fear that when articles like the one in Rolling Stone, are coupled with Yale's tolerant image, they sometimes make homosexual students feel pressured to come out before they're ready. "There is some pressure [on closeted students]. A significant amount of activist groups make it look like people should be out of the closet," said Leatherwood. "It just gets kind of annoying."

To celebrate National Coming Out Week, Mon., Oct. 8, through Thurs., Oct. 11, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Cooperative (LGBT) is hosting events aimed at uniting the gay community. Events range from guest speakers to panels on coming out of the closet. Some students feel that events of this nature take gay pride too far.

"Pride Week makes being gay look like a lifestyle when it's really not," Reindl said. "These kinds of things are making it look liketoo much of a spectacle. It creates toomuch drama."

Other homosexual students disagree. Emily Wills, TC '04, a coordinator for the LGBT, believes that such thinking undermines the entire purpose of community and gay-oriented events. "What is the point of National Coming Out week?" Wills asked. "The point is to celebrate. The point is to be joyful and overabundant. It only comes across as a spectacle because people aren't used to gay issues being made public. Society isn't used to seeing and discussing these kinds of issues."

Jesus Chapa-Mal-acara, MC '04, another coordinator for the LGBT, shares Wills' opinion. "Pride Week gives us more visibility and reaffirms the support of the community," she said. "If I were still in the closet, I would be glad that there was a support group to help me through the process."

Despite the article's claim that "many gay students actually shun activism," there are support groups ready to help gay students in need of help. The LGBT, for example, hosts "Gay Yalies," a confidential discussion group that holds meetings which provide students with opportunities to express their fears to other members before deciding to come out.

Yet tolerance and gay activism can only go so far in helping students cope with such a deeply personal issue. "Although we are conscious that there are a number of closeted students at Yale, there's only so much we can do," Wills said. "We feel that visibility is important and want to make sure that people know there are gay people at Yale."

Reindl affirmed this sentiment. "Coming out is still hard, no matter where you do it."

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