Organizers say group aims to help sexual minority students feel less isolated at UP
By Anna Walters
For the past 11 years, the University-sanctioned Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender or Questioning (GLBTQ) group has met in confidentiality on campus. Yellow fliers around campus invite students struggling with their sexual identity or those simply seeking a safe place to meet other GLBTQ students to "join in building a GLBTQ community at the University of Portland."
The fliers are evidence of the group's recent increased interest, which previously had been declining over the past couple of years. The number of current and past participants is confidential.
"The group is student-driven and the more interest we get the more things get put out there," said Tim Crump, family nurse practitioner at the university Health Center. "There's an e-mail that has been going out to interested people."
Crump also acts as an adviser to the group, which is sponsored by the Health Center, Campus Ministry, Residence Life and Student Services.
Anissa Rogers, a social work professor who also advises the group, describes it as "a confidential group that provides a safe venue for students to come for social support."
Crump emphasized the need for safety among those questioning their sexuality.
"Especially for people who are in the initial stages of experimenting, it's important for them to have a safe place other than a bar to explore and hopefully meet other students."
To Rogers, the group provides relief from the isolation some students may feel when grappling with their sexual orientation. Rogers said that GLBTQ students at UP are not only physically isolated - the campus' location on The Bluff makes it somewhat difficult to go downtown and other places where GLBTQ individuals have more of a presence - but also emotionally isolated.
"It's scary not knowing who to come out to," Rodgers said.
Crump said that through talking with student patients about their sexuality, he thinks GLBTQ students' apprehensions about being outed is linked to UP's Catholic heritage and ROTC's presence on campus.
Before a student can take part in GLBTQ meetings, he or she must sit down with Crump or Rogers to ensure that the student upholds the group's necessity of confidentiality and to provide the student with more information.
Senior Amanda, a 22-year-old English major, attended the group's only meeting this year, an informal chat over coffee. Amanda requested that her real name not be published.
Amanda, who identifies as a lesbian, thinks that the group does help students who are not comfortable with their sexuality.
"If there is a person on campus who is still questioning, not out, does not want to be identified as GLBTQ, but needs support and wants to spend time with other GLBTQ students, it's the perfect place," she said.
But Amanda also recognizes the drawbacks of the group due to its confidential nature.
"It is designed to be a safe place, and because of that, we often don't hear about it and it's hard to sort of draw people in," she said. "But it serves its purpose."
Amanda also thinks that the university would benefit from a more public group on campus.
"It would be nice if I could walk into a group as a newly out person," she said.
Campus Ministry supports the GLBTQ group for a number of reasons.
"It's more of a support group and a discussion group, as people try to understand themselves," said the Rev. Bill Dorwart, C.S.C., director of Campus Ministry, who once attended a group meeting to speak about the Church's attitude toward GLBTQ individuals. "In that framework, it is not going against the teachings of the Catholic Church."
Dorwart said that Campus Ministry's endorsement of the GLBTQ group was similar to the organization's support of students questioning the existence of God and creation in a philosophy class. He also thinks that Campus Ministry supports the group because its goal is not political action, but rather, support.
"The bottom line is heterosexuals and homosexuals are children of God and we shouldn't treat homosexuals any differently than we treat any child of God," Dorwart said. "When it comes to behavior, that is where (the Church) draws the line. Outside of the marriage union, there is no room for sexual activity."
Campus Ministry is concerned about the health and well-being of the UP community, be that spiritual, emotional and physical, Dorwart said.
He also acknowledged that an individual's relationship with God is often affected by the state of one's health. Campus Ministry supports the GLBTQ group not only because it provides a resource for students grappling with internal issues, but also because it may improve a student's relationship with God.
For Amanda, the GLBTQ group has been a good social resource and eased her apprehensions about alienation.
"It definitely helped me as a student who wasn't connected to a lot of GLBTQ students and it makes me feel more at home here," she said.
