Joseph Graumann (SFS ‘11), left, and Carlos Leon (COL ‘10)

In this week’s issue, the Voice spoke with co-Presidents of GU Pride Joseph Graumann (SFS ‘11) and Carlos Leon (COL ‘10) about their organization, the recent hate crimes on campus and the challenges facing the LGBTQ community.  This is the extended transcript of our interview with them.

The Voice: How did you get involved in GU Pride?

Joseph: Well, I came out on campus during the Out for Change campaign. It was a lot of the issues at the time and the struggle that went on for recognition of the LGBTQ community really made me look inside myself, and, I mean as corny as it sounds, my so-called “brothers and sisters” are off fighting the good fight and I am not even secure enough to tell my friends.

Ever since then, I realized that there is work to be done. And my good friend Ellen, who was already involved with the Out for Change campaign, Ellen Greer, she really encouraged me to be involved in the community and I started out as historian, when there was an opening in the beginning of my sophomore year [2008] and then sophomore year, December, they had elections for co-chair and I ran and got elected.

The Voice: What is one thing you wish to change about GU Pride?

Joseph: I would like to see GU Pride become a more welcoming and open place for people who are in the process of coming out or who feel like they are unable to find a safe place with other aspects of the community that administers to LGBTQ people.

The Voice: The best thing about GU Pride?

Joseph: What I like about GU Pride is that although not everybody who is affiliated with the organization shows up to everything, we have a pretty good sense of comradery and we’ve developed a very good sense of community on campus, which is really important, given the nature of our identities, it’s really hard to do that, it’s hard to forge a cohesive and diverse, both racially [and] socio-economically, group on campus.

Read the rest of this entry »

A couple hundred students gathered in Red Square Monday evening holding candles to speak out against the recent anti-gay violence.

Representatives of student groups from GU Pride to the Georgetown branch of the NAACP spoke at the vigil, as well as Georgetown faculty, staff, and administrators. Chris Farris and Todd Metrokin, Co-Chairs of the D.C. group Gays and Lesbians Opposing Violence, and Sergeant Carlos Mejia from MPD’s Gay and Lesbian Liason Unit also made an appearance.

“We are here today in solidarity with the victims of these crimes,” Co-President of GU Pride Joseph Graumann (SFS ‘11) said. “But solidarity is more than sympathy. It’s more than just standing by. It’s about action.”

Students at the vigil advocated a range of responses to improve student safety and address what they perceive as a campus culture that tolerates homophobia. Among the suggestions were a student community watch program and higher pay for DPS officers, as well as individual precautions like programming the DPS number into cell phones and reporting crimes when they occur.

Read the rest of this entry »

About 70 students met in Red Square this afternoon for a flash protest against the recent anti-gay hate crimes.

The rally was organized by Carter Lavin (SFS ‘10), a supporter of LGBTQ rights but not a member of GU Pride.  Lavin said he was so upset upon hearing about the most recent incident, the assault that occurred at 36th and N Streets early this morning, that he couldn’t focus on his work and decided to organize a protest.

Lavin spread the word by texting 40 to 50 of his friends, many of whom spread the word on Twitter.

“I hope people start caring, start noticing,” Lavin says.  “[I think the protest is important] so we can say students reacted.”

Joseph Graumann (SFS ‘11), Co-Chair of GU Pride said he was “dismayed” by the recent hate crimes but was glad that the LGBTQ community at Georgetown has such strong allies and was “amazed that someone took it upon themselves” to plan the protest.

Graumann said that the campus climate has improved significantly since the 2007 hate crimes that prompted the creation of the LGBTQ Center, but work still needs to be done to “raise awareness that hate is a problem on campus.”

“When LGBTQ students are targeted it’s scary,” Graumann said.

According to Graumann, GU Pride is planning to hold a community event later this week.

During the rally, students made a circle around Red Square and shouted chants “Hate crimes are ridiculous / My Georgetown is better than this!” and “Georgetown students are under attack / What do we do? Stand up, fight back!”

Update 9:30 p.m. There will be a vigil tomorrow night in Red Square at 8:30 p.m. For more information, check out the Facebook event.

Photos by Helen Burton

UPDATE: Pride co-President Scott Chessare (COL ‘10) has sent out a letter to administrators and media outlets; it is posted below the jump.

The two co-Presidents of GU Pride, along with Bill McCoy, the part-time coordinator of LGBTQ resources on campus, are in Chicago at DePaul University tonight, attending a conference on LGBTQ issues on Catholic campuses. I just received an e-mail from Olivia Chitayat (COL ‘10), one of the co-Presidents. Though obviously dismayed by the incident, she’s happy that the University got the news out faster this time (“Five days is better than three weeks”); interestingly, she says McCoy hadn’t heard about the incident yet. You’d think the University would want to tell him. More from Chitayat:

The University can’t just say that we do not tolerate homophobia on this campus and expect the culture to change. … These incidents are going to keep occurring, they already occur every day, [until] we step in and start talking about the issue, start providing safe spaces for members of the community, start listening to the needs of people that live and breathe on this campus and MAKE A CHANGE. We have to keep talking and keep pushing people out of their boundaries until everyone realizes that homophobia will not and cannot be tolerated, until everyone understands why treating a member of the community in such a disrespectful, hateful, and violent manner is unacceptable.

We’ll be reporting as much as we can on this issue tomorrow, so keep an eye on the blog.

- Tim Fernholz, Editor in Chief

Read the rest of this entry »

Looks like homophobia on campus isn’t limited to September 9’s assault. Two men said homophobic slurs and pushed another person against a wall Sunday morning, according to a University Public Safety alert sent out Thursday night:

A complainant reported to DPS that at approximately 2:34 a.m., he was approached by two unknown males as he walked up Lauinger library steps. The suspects made homophobic remarks and followed the complainant to the Healy building. The suspects pushed the complainant into the side of the building and blew smoke in his face.

Nothing was taken, and the victim wasn’t injured. It’s not clear if anyone involved is a student.

It’s more depressing to see this happen again than it was to hear about the first hate crime, because at least that could have been as an isolated incident. The administration seems to be handling this faster and with more transparency than the last hate crime, and they’ll be more likely to agree to Pride’s reasonable request more LGBTQ resources in the wake of the previous assault.

Shame on the school for not having a DPS officer at the steps 24 hours a day. It seems like most assaults and muggings happen there, but Vice President of Public Safety Rocco DelMonaco only suggests “more education.” Also, the safety alert’s recommendations to students for avoiding future incidents? Call DPS and Saferides if something bad happens, and don’t prop your windows open!

-Will Sommer, blog editor

In this week’s feature, I quote from an open letter that four faculty members sent to Vice President for Student Affairs Todd Olson regarding GU Pride’s abortive protest and the Professors’ role in Georgetown policymaking:

It is simply and deeply unjust for the University to place so much of the burden of fighting intolerance onto young students and a few willing allies, with hardly any institutional support. With all that in mind, last Thursday’s episode outside Healy, and your decision not to step in to reassure the students that they are not an inimical presence on this campus, strike us as unconscionable. Surely, if cura personalis means anything, it must now mean for the Vice President of Student Affairs – and for the University administration as a whole – to make a public commitment to serious changes to make Georgetown a community that truly welcomes all its members and treats them equally.

We didn’t have room to put the whole letter in this week’s paper, so the whole thing is after the jump.

- Tim Fernholz, Editor in Chief
Read the rest of this entry »

GU Pride held a press conference/rally in Red Square this afternoon demanding that the administration commit to opening and funding an LGTBQ Resource Center and instituting mandatory LGBTQ diversity training for students, faculty and staff. Pride wants to see these commitments by November 9—the two-month anniversary of a recent anti-gay hate crime—and if the University won’t take steps, Pride says it will “escalate” its protests until they see results.

The Red Square event came in the wake of University President Jack DeGioia’s decision not to attend Pride’s public forum about the hate crime, which resulted in the event’s cancellation.

“Jack needs to prove to us he is the ally he says he is,” one Pride spokesperson said.
Read the rest of this entry »

So, everyone on campus—or at least everyone who works for the Voice—is waiting with bated breath to see whether or not Jack DeGioia will deign to speak at GU Pride’s Coming Out Week forum tomorrow night. The prez addressed the hate crime today in a campus-wide email, saying…well, not much.

Aside from declaring that hate crimes and homophobia will not be tolerated (a no-brainer) DeGioia declined to discuss any concrete actions for preventing these incidents in the future or actually changing the campus culture. A couple of Hoyas decided to take matters into their own hands by starting a Facebook group taking Jack to task for his most recent spin-doctored missive. Sure, the group only has two members for now, but you know how fast these things grow.

Anna Bank, Editorial Board Chair

GU Pride held a rally in Red Square today in response to the hate crime allegedly committed by a Georgetown student in early September. Thursday’s Voice will have more coverage of the rally, as well as any developments with the alleged assailant, Phillip Cooney (MSB ‘10). Until then, why not enjoy some pictures from our Flickr account?

This poster was hung up during the rally. It’s not clear through the paint, but underneath it says, “Why Can’t You Just Be Normal.”

On the left, a speaker at the rally.

-Will Sommer, blog editor