Alumni Caucus for Gay, Lesbian
and Bisexual Concerns at Allegheny College

Meadville, PA

Life on Campus

By Mike Matott '98

I find myself singing "Where have all the cowboys gone?" by Paula Cole every once in while, only I substitute "gay men" for "cowboys." It seems that there are fewer and fewer gay males visible on this campus. This year I've been the token gay male.

The other one transferred last year.

Granted, I know of a few other gay and bisexual men on campus, but none of them are vocal on campus. Most of the gay men I do know of on this campus are in various places in the closet. Some have their hand on the door and are peeking out. Some haven't figured out where the door is yet. When it comes down to it, I only positively know of four queer men on campus. I have a number of question marks, however.

I do wonder why it is that there are so few out men on campus when we have a very good support network of faculty and staff. The Committee continues to provide a good support network and educational resource for the college. However, the number of out male staff and faculty has declined over the past few years so as to be nearly non-existent. Perhaps that has sent a message to men on campus that being a gay male here is not stable. Of course, that theory doesn't hold much when you look at the number of out lesbians on staff and faculty. Those numbers haven't really changed much, and yet in my four years here the number of out lesbian students has grown significantly each year. This year there are actual relationships visible on campus! Any male-male relationships that are going on must be hidden in the shadows, because I haven't seen them anywhere.

Allegheny Gay Pride, the new student organization, has its heart in the right place, but the apathetic student body makes it hard for a student group to do anything to spark interest or support in the general population. Still, AGP provides a good student-oriented support system without the formality that the Committee has. In the future, my hopes are that this organization will grow to provide a more social environment for queer students to relax in. I made a recent trip to Boston as part of the Alternative Spring Break and while working and visiting in the South End I got to interact with other gay men. It made me aware of how unrelaxed this campus makes me feel sometimes.

Marie Elia, a student on campus, is trying to start a new group called Gables, whose purpose is to provide a confidential place for people dealing with issues about being gay and coming out of the closet. It's intended to help people in the coming out process and hopefully make some of the closeted people on campus more comfortable with themselves and their place in this community. My hope is that all of the closeted males out there (there MUST be some!) will make use of this group and provide some new visibility on campus, because right now we don't have a new "token" to replace me when I graduate.

And frankly, I'd just as soon we didn't need a token at all. I'd like it if we had a community to call our own.

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