More than 295,000 full-time-equivalent college students populate the Greater Philadelphia area, which boasts 101 colleges and universities. With that mix queer student unions, gay-straight alliances and other LGBT support networks are as diverse as the students they serve. At three local academic institutions, LGBT groups within miles of each other have very different characters, which are shaped both by their resources and students’ needs.
Junior Maria Aghazharian, a co-head of Bryn Mawr College’s GSA, Rainbow Alliance, said it’s commonplace to discuss gender and sexuality at the Seven Sisters school. “If I said I wanted to switch to gender-neutral pronouns, most people would act like I was saying ‘I’m going to eat a sandwich for lunch,’” she explained.
Fellow co-head and senior Lauren Cantor agreed it’s a comfortable place for such discussions, adding, “Homophobic people tend not to speak up at Bryn Mawr.”
Rainbow Alliance’s activities, however, are colored by Bryn Mawr’s status as a women’s college with just 1,300 undergraduates. Due to its admission of female-bodied students as undergraduates, whatever their gender identity, some recent campus hot-button issues either do not exist or are less visible. Gender-neutral housing is one such issue: Any Bryn Mawr student, regardless of gender identity, is allowed to live in any dorm on campus, which includes one co-ed dorm. Gender-neutral bathrooms generate debate, as public buildings have gendered bathrooms, but residential life policy mandates that dorm halls must have at least one bathroom designated “Everyone Welcome.”
Consequently, Rainbow Alliance tends to be a place, said Cantor, “to talk about struggles with sexuality, rather than to try to educate.”
Additionally, the group sponsors annual events such as OutWeek and Day of Silence, inviting the broader campus community. Earlier this year, Rainbow Alliance partnered with several other organizations to bring a performance by trans artists Athens Boys Choir and Katastrophe to campus. Students also indicated they would like the group to “do more community service,” Aghazharian said.
The impact of an academic institution’s size and resources on its LGBT community is clear when a small organization like Rainbow Alliance is compared to the LGBT Center at the University of Pennsylvania. Center director Bob Schoenberg estimates that 3,500-4,000 people visit the center annually, including community groups who rent the space and individuals who use its cyber center, which is open to the public. Still, the fact that more than twice as many people visit UPenn’s LGBT Center in a year as attend Bryn Mawr makes UPenn’s LGBT scene very different.
Corinne Rich, a senior and chair of UPenn’s Lambda Alliance, a coalition of seven LGBT undergraduate groups, said the alliance facilitates communication between its constituents and advocates for both its constituency and other members of the community. “We are very fortunate that Penn is a very open-minded, forward-thinking institution, so it’s rare that we run into huge barriers or anything,” Rich said, “but there are some things that we are constantly advocating for.” Those causes include improving relations between the LGBT and Greek communities and learning how to effectively advocate for LGBT athletes.
Schoenberg said he recognizes there is “good news and not-so-good news about having so many student organizations. The plus side is that most students can find a niche that suits them and meets their needs. On the other hand, it is challenging to foster cooperation among the groups and coordinate their priorities and activities.”
Facilitating intra-group communication — and collaboration — is a big part of Lambda’s job, said Rich, noting that Lambda meetings are “really useful because if one of our groups is having an event that is perhaps very relevant to another, they can jump on and coordinate with them.”
At Temple University’s Main Campus, LGBT group collaboration is simpler, as there are only three registered student groups: the Queer Student Union, Purple Circle and the nascent group Pride in Social Work. Senior Connor Hesketh, immediate past president of the QSU until he turned over leadership to sophomore Brianna Edwards, said the organization hosts at least 40 students at its weekly meetings. The QSU is advocacy-oriented, whereas Purple Circle, a group Hesketh founded, is a purely social outlet.
Although the apparent presence of only three LGBT groups at a large university campus might indicate a homophobic climate, by Hesketh’s estimate, “90 percent [of the Temple community] are very accepting.”
Since there are few LGBT groups, QSU is working to ally itself with the community. Edwards said, “We’re definitely working on just getting out there with the Temple community and the outside community. We’re trying to work with a lot of organizations.”
That work includes volunteering, and she has been in contact with both William Way LGBT Community Center and the Pennsylvania Student Equality Commission, of which Hesketh is the Philadelphia chair.
Hesketh and Edwards agree that Philadelphia is an invaluable resource for students and, as Bryn Mawr’s plans to volunteer in the city indicate, it’s accessible to LGBT students beyond city limits, often just a SEPTA ride away.
“It definitely feels like we have the whole city in our hands, and that it’s safe to be ourselves,” said Edwards.