Archived Edition: April 18, 2007 | Back to Current	Jul 31, 2010

A question of acceptance
Mijon Zulu

At this year’s Queer Town Meeting, the question that people continually posed was whether queer people were accepted or tolerated on the Williams campus. Williams is constantly talking about diversity, but the meeting made me question whether queer people get a chance to celebrate being queer. Although people at Williams are extremely accommodating, sometimes people forget that the difference between acceptance and tolerance in the face of diversity means the difference between comfort and discomfort in individual expression.

Queer Bash, for instance, which is notorious for heightened drunkenness, debauchery, long lines, difficult crowds and an absence of self-control, is not the image that queer students should want to portray about queer people and ourselves. Queer Bash does not have to be a place where people forget that they still need to respect each other. 

This year’s Queer Bash was, in my opinion, one of best I’ve seen. It was easy to get in, the crowd seemed to be having fun when the “Homo-coming” king and queen were crowned and although some people were disappointed that the party wasn’t permanently packed, I thought the spacious atmosphere was more fun: it took away the anonymity that would allow people to get away with shady behavior. 

Undoubtedly, there are technical and political issues with the presence of the porn at Queer Bash, and such objections say a lot about the Williams campus. The airing of the gay porn might be somewhat objectionable simply because it’s porn, but an important point that people often miss is that the gay porn marks Queer Bash as a queer space. Queer people do touch each other, and although people can tolerate the presence of queer people, they do not always accept the physical intimacy that is shared. 

Porn is not necessarily known for expressing intimacy, but it does show the more extreme expressions of physical attraction. What defines the term “queer” is physical and emotional attraction. Would the objections be the same if it was straight porn? Or are objections to gay porn indicative of an absence of queer intimacy on this campus? Why is Queer Bash the space where same-sex intimacy is the most present? Is it because people on the campus do not show a lot of affection or is it because people do not feel comfortable interacting in public? Acceptance should mean that people feel comfortable interacting in public. 

In light of the two recent photo campaigns, I think that Williams is starting to question these issues. The two campaigns, “Fearless” and “When We Touch,” portray moments of physical intimacy and pride. “Fearless” is an exhibit of individual portraits by Jeff Sheng, of openly LGBT high school and college athletes. While “Fearless” highlights the difficulty of being out and athletic, and the fact that you can be queer and athletic, it does not show queer interaction.

“When We Touch,” an exhibit of photographs by Chris Lee ’07 which is now on display outside the Marketplace, is about pride, but it is also an exhibit about the freedom to touch in public. Although the couples in the photos are not real, all are comprised of Williams students, and consist of both queer and straight allies. The two photo campaigns now complement each other. The first shows that it is fine for queer people to stand by themselves and be out and proud. The second draws attention to a more intimate side that people need to and should contemplate. Together, the two emphasize the difference between acceptance and tolerance.

During this year’s Queer Bash, there was apparently a “Straight Bash” as well: was this party just a joke like the Men’s Center Facebook Group, or was it a legitimate protest to the queer presence on campus? Even if the supposed “Straight Bash” was meant as a joke, would it not have been better to have had the party on a different night so as not to appear to have an intolerant tone? I am baffled as to how to take the existence of this party because, while I prefer for people to do what makes them feel comfortable, I would be sad to see that there are minds that are closed to the idea of acceptance.

For me, acceptance has meant that I do not need to feel guilty, alone, depressed and isolated. At times, it is self-acceptance, and at others, it is the acceptance that you find in your peers. Feeling accepted in a space is what helps people to grow into confident people. Acceptance is also the goal of encouraging diversity and having organizations like the QSU. Why should Williams have these organizations if not to help students take pride in themselves and share it with others? I wonder where the Williams community stands on this issue: acceptance or tolerance?



Mijon Zulu ’09 is from Suffern, N.Y., and lives in Bryant.