The Pride Center hosted a Safe Zone program at the Delta Upsilon fraternity house in order to create a discussion between all groups of students about the LGBT community.
Jonathan Jean-Pierre, ’15, was the discussion leader for the program. He said this was the first time the Pride Center worked with a fraternity in this way. Jean-Pierre also said the event being held in a fraternity house allowed all different groups of students to have a discussion in one place.
In the beginning of the program, students learned about various LGBT terms and their definitions, such as “cisgender,” “queer” and “heteronormativity.” The discussion also focused on how some identify with gender, gender roles and sexual orientation all independently of each other .
Ian Trauffer, ’17, a brother in Delta Upsilon, said this was the first time he was part of a discussion about LGBT issues at Lehigh. Trauffer said he was surprised by the lack of knowledge people have on campus about these issues. The more the Lehigh community learns about the various differences between the students, the more it can become an accepting and comfortable environment for all students.
“Students here come from many different backgrounds, but we assume a lot about each other,” Trauffer said. “Discussions like this teach us to be less assuming about other people’s experiences.”
After the Safe Zone program, the group watched Gun Hill Road, a film about an adolescent transgender struggling with extreme trans and homophobia in the New York City’s Bronx borough and within her family. The film intended to provide a chance to see a realistic experience of someone dealing with intersectionality, which focuses on the intersection of different forms of oppression.
Greek Allies President Elizabeth Campbell, ’15, was also present at the program. According to Lehigh’s website, Greek Allies is a Greek student-run group that aims to provide a “safe space for LGBTQIA fraternity and sorority members or those interested in becoming part of Greek life.
Campbell said the film was beneficial because seeing someone struggle with these issues was different than simply discussing the ideas in abstract ways.
“Once they become a part of your experience, that uncomfortable feeling with these conversations goes away,” Campbell said.
Delta Upsilon President, Richard Johnson, ’16, said while the event went well because there were many Delta Upsilon brothers present to learn about these issues, he would have liked to have more interactions between the LGBT community and non-LGBT community.
Johnson also said it is important to put people in these uncomfortable situations so they can realize that we are all human beings, so there is no reason to be ignorant or disrespectful to anyone.
“We’d like to keep doing events like this because people really like the discussing part,” Johnson said. “We want to strengthen the relationships with these other organizations because there are many of us who would want to learn more about this and be supportive of people in these situations.”
Jean-Pierre said he was impressed by everyone’s ability to learn and see these issues because a few years ago he didn’t see Lehigh being able to do that.
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