Dear University of Mississippi Administration, Athletics Department, Students, Faculty, and Staff,
Tuesday night, October 1, 2013 a deplorable act of hate was conducted during an Ole Miss Department of Theatre Arts production of The Laramie Project. Later, I read in the Daily Mississippian that the athletes guilty of being a majority of the disturbance were made to apologize to the cast after the show. An apology was and may still be in order; sincerity of those apologies can be easily debated. I deeply believe this event provides us the perfect foundation to establish educational dialogue around the subject of LGBTQ persons on this campus. Because those athletes were not the only ones participating and how long must we wait before these isolated moments of public heckling become isolated moments of private heckling leading to events similar to those outlined in The Laramie Project. It’s no secret to queer students here that it can get incredibly scary to walk around this university and surrounding areas knowing that some if not a majority of these strangers walking past you harbor a hatred that could escalate to fatal levels.
Two weeks ago the university celebrated its first Creed Week. During that week and after, I have been highly disappointed at the level of active work and programming to address actions that blatantly disrespect a creed the university works so hard to publicize.
I as president of UM Pride Network, the undergraduate LGBTQ organization, cannot help but feel a sense of shame and disappointment at not foreseeing these actions. It’s time to push aside how much faith we have in the student body here and hold each other accountable to the things we do to perpetuate a poisonous culture that upholds heterosexuality as the norm. I refuse to let Tuesday night’s events descend into the Island of Misfit-Events-of-Hate.
No more signing books in perceived solidarity, no more commemorations, no more committees; simply, no more inaction. There needs to be dialogue, discussion and tough conversation, and it needs to happen now.
Next, I look at the university, which includes myself, and ask: What do we do to make anyone on this campus believe it is safe to ostracize LGBTQ individuals? What can we do as a community to analyze our institutions, events, programming, housing policies, and organizations (both greek and campus organizations) to develop ways to be more sensitive and inclusive.
Let’s step back and look at how far a jump there is from heckling someone on a stage to heckling someone in a dark alley. Without a public audience in that alley where would that heckling go? Without anyone there to make them apologize or curb their behavior would physical violence ensue or would their verbal abuse suffice for the night?
Through all the anger, shame, disappointment, frustration, and whatever other emotions people of feeling right now, this event provides us the perfect time to DO SOMETHING. October is National LGBTQ History Month. Countless people have worked hard to bring the University of Mississippi programming and events to establish a foundation for education as well as activism around making this campus comfortably habitable to queer students, faculty, and staff.
UM Pride Network meets October 10th & 24th. After that we meet every 1st and 3rd Thursday in each month. I invite any and everyone to come to a meeting or an event scheduled for this month. Let’s figure out together what we will do to actively shape this culture we work so very hard to uphold.
