Welcome! From Jacob

A Queer Survival Guide to Duke University

 

Well first year queers (gayby’s? queerby’s? q-frosh? We should work on thinking of a cute name for queer first years) first and foremost, I am absolutely delighted to welcome you to the Duke family. You’re in for four years of excitement, confusion, frustration, anticipation, fabulosity, learning, and fun. As a senior, former President of Blue Devils United, and current Vice President of Equity and Outreach for Duke Student Government, I’ve been around the block a few times, so I wanted to provide you with some quick advice on how to survive at Duke as a member of the queer community. Here are a few tips.

1.      Know that there is no such thing as “the Duke Queer Experience”: Our community is vast at Duke, and everyone experiences this place differently. For many people, particularly gender conforming gay white men (although this category itself can be problematic and rife with discrepancies), Duke can be pretty great. There are tons of queer people at Duke who feel completely welcome here from the day that they set foot on campus and never experience any form of marginalization. If that’s your experience, that’s fantastic! Just try to keep in mind that many queer people at Duke still feel very marginalized, alone, isolated, etc. There is no way to define “what it means to be queer” at Duke. Trust me, I’ve tried.

2.      Know that you’re welcome everywhere, even though it won’t always feel like it: In your first few weeks of school the heterosexuality of campus can be absolutely overwhelming. I remember my first Duke party during orientation week. People were totally cool with the fact that I was gay, but I still felt pretty alone because heterosexuality was blantantly and unapologetically the norm. This is not true of all parties at Duke by any stretch (#roundtable #brownstone #nexus #ubuntu #pegram #coffeehouse #you’llunderstandthesehashtagswithinthreeweeksIpromise), but it is of a significant portion of them. When you encounter those spaces, it may feel lonely at first, but there are always other queer people there. I promise.

3.      Know that Duke can be terrible: While Duke has made great progress towards being a queerer campus in the past few years, it’s not perfect. As a queer person, you may have some awful experiences here. When I was a first year, I hung my rainbow flag out of my window in my dorm and proceeded to have it torn down on three different occasions. Because Duke can be terrible, don’t be shy about reaching out to others when you need support. The Center for Sexuality and Gender Diversity can be a great resource, CAPS is vital, and a good group of friends helps too.

4.      Know that the queer community, like any community, isn’t perfect: At Duke, not all queer people get along. Not all queer people even identify as queer. As a gender non-conforming person, there are some people even within the queer community who don’t like the way that I dress. There’s drama that can fracture things, especially on a small campus. There can be rifts between activists and non-activists. We have a robust and healthy community here, but it has its flaws.

5.      Don’t hold too strongly to identities: You are queer, and that is great, but please don’t think that’s all that you have to be. You are never reducible entirely to your queer identity, no matter how important it is to you. Branch out beyond just those in the queer community, because straight allies are plentiful and incredible at Duke.

6.      For the love of God, be an activist: Note here that I didn’t say be a queer activist (although you should consider it). As a queer person, you don’t have to do all of your work around queer issues, but please please please be engaged in social justice issues during your time on campus. After all, the white-supremacapialist-heteropatriarchy won’t overthrow itself.

7.      Know that you’re indebted to people you don’t even know: Duke hasn’t always been a great place for queer people (be on the lookout later for more activism about queer history on campus!), and it has only changed as a campus because of people who came generations of students before you. The first queer group on campus started in 1971, and since then, hundreds of people have worked to make Duke the school that it is for queer people today. Never forget how much you owe them, and never take your community for granted.

8.     Lastly, keep your head up, no matter what anyone says.

 

I can’t tell you how excited I am to meet each and every one of you. If you see me walking around campus, please say hello, introduce yourself, and let me know something cool about you. I may only be here for another year, and I might be a little bit busy with my senior thesis, but you should know that the day you set foot on campus, you already have at least one queer friend in me.

 

With love and solidarity,

Jacob

Welcome! From Rachel

It has somehow come to pass in my two years at Duke that I have become fairly entwined in the LGBTQA community at Duke, or at least the “official” parts of it. Almost everyone that I’ve met here is queer and all of my activities outside of class up until this point have been queerness-related in some way. I worked for three semesters at the Center, I’m going into my third year as editor-in-chief of Unzipped: the Duke Journal of Gender and Sexuality, I spent a year heading up the publication of the magazine Womyn: the queer experience, and I’m going into my second position on the BDU executive board. Through this, I’ve become pretty knowledgeable about the resources tailored to queer students. And there are lots at Duke, more than I ever expected before coming here. Since I’ve spent so much time with them, I thought it might be useful to spell them out a bit.

 

The Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity: This is the hub of institutional resources for queer students. It is in the Bryan Center (in an exciting new space :D) and is open from 9-5 every day. It’s a pretty cool place to hang out during the day, where you can work or socialize freely. It has various discussion groups that usually meet monthly in the evening, and these can be a great place to meet people. I personally love Women Loving Women (and hope to see some new faces there soon!). The Center also hosts a variety of events through the year, my favorite of which are the NC Pride Festival in late September and Coming Out Day in October. A lot of these events have huge attendances, and while people chose to come to the Center or not for a variety of reasons, I would recommend coming by at least to some early events to meet people. The Center also has educational resources with pamphlets and a huge library of queer fiction and nonfiction (Also movies and games. Can’t forget movies and games), and the staff there can be a helpful resource if you’re looking for a listening ear. The Center also has condoms, dental dams, gloves, and lube available to anyone (safe sex resources are also available at Student Health and the Wellness Center beneath the Coffee House). All in all, the Center has a lot to offer and people there tend to be close. It’s not a place that everyone enjoys, but if you’re looking for a place to be, give it a try and it’s always good to know what events are going on.

 

Blue Devils United: BDU is the LGBTQA undergraduate student group on campus. It puts on social events throughout the year and does activist work with students. Some of the biggest events that BDU has historically put on annually are the BDU Drag Show in the fall, movie nights and watch parties for important games or events throughout the year, and the Lavender Ball in the spring. They also periodically sponsor College Night at the BAR and other fun events here and there. BDU also gives out rainbow flags at the beginning of every year so students can show support of the LGBTQA community as part of an ongoing visibility campaign, which often includes posters and educational materials. This blog is also run by BDU and is open to anyone who wants to write, either named or anonymously. BDU usually meets every other week and forms committees for specific projects that are open to anyone. So BDU is a great place to look if you want to have a leadership role (however small or large) or have a particular event or cause that you are passionate about. And even if you don’t want to be a regular part of BDU, look out for events! They’re a lot of fun and you can come even if not active in BDU.

Gender-Neutral Housing: Duke’s Gender-Neutral Housing program has grown a lot in the past year due to a lot of hard work from students of the group Duke Students for Gender Neutrality. People legally of different sexes now have options to share dorm rooms and apartments on both West Campus and Central Campus. There has been a lot of controversy in the NC Legislature this summer about gender-neutral housing in the UNC system, but it is still available at Duke. It’s easy to register for when you’re signing up for housing for the next year, and it’s a great option for gender non-conforming students, trans students, or anyone who would simply like to have a wider range of roommate options. Though it’s not currently available to first years on East Campus (unfortunately) DSGN is still working to expand it to all students. If you’ll be living on East Campus and need housing that considers any sort of gender issue, talk to your resident coordinator. Options are available, even if they aren’t ideal.

Unzipped: Unzipped: the Duke Journal of Gender and Sexuality is an academic journal published annually (usually in the middle of the year, but the schedule sometimes changes) that compiles papers written by students. Unzipped publishes work in any academic discipline, from biology to linguistics to film studies, dealing with any issue of gender or sexuality. They also have recently started publishing shorter, more personal essays, so really if you have any interest in reading or publishing almost any piece of literature dealing with gender or sexuality, look for Unzipped. Copies of the most recent issue are available in the Bryan Center and all copies can be read in the Center.

Womyn: Womyn: the queer experience is another publication, but with a more casual and narrative feel. It has essays, poems, letters, and pretty much any other narrative structure from queer women and their allies on campus to examine the joys and pains of life as a queer woman. It tries to show a great variety and range of experiences. The most recent issue can be found in the Bryan Center and all issues can be read in the Center.

Classes and Academics: Duke offers a variety of classes that examine gender and sexuality in a variety of ways. Both the Study of Sexualities Program and the Women’s Studies Program have a wide variety of classes dealing with gender perceptions, queer theory, social justice issues, and many other areas. Both areas are listed in the class registration on ACES.

 

 

This by far is not an exhaustive list. There are many other resources and groups that are either explicitly geared toward queer students or queer-friendly. Duke Student Government is regularly supportive of the LGBTQ community, as are the selective living groups Nexus and Roundtable. The “Me Too Monologues” is a show put on every year that tells of students’ experiences of race, gender, and sexuality. There are a variety of programs throughout the year by the Multicultural Center, the Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture, the Women’s Center, or some combination of the above that deal with the intersection of identities. And of course there are many other groups that welcome queer students and programming is constantly changing. But if you’re looking for something definitively queer or opportunities for community or activism, these are good places to start.

 

Best of luck to all of the new students, and welcome to Duke!

 

Welcome! From MC

 

 

I'm MC Bousquette, the Blue Devils United treasurer. I'm a senior political science major with a certificate in markets and management studies and a theater studies minor. I was born and raised in Greenwich, Connecticut, and will be headed back up north to New York City next year. 

I'm very excited to be a part of the BDU executive board for my senior year. I hope to catch a lot of you around campus, whether at our Wednesday meetings in our awesome new Center or to grab coffee and chat! I'm always here to listen and talk about the Duke experience.

Welcome! From Daniel

Hey everyone! I’m Daniel Kort, a sophomore majoring in psychology and neuroscience, and I’ll be president of Blue Devils United this year. I’m so excited for what’s bound to be a very special time for our organization. With the new Center for Sexual Diversity’s completion, this year marks a high point in the visibility of LGBT life at Duke. As president, I’m committed to ensuring that Duke remains a safe and awesome place for everyone, regardless of sexual orientation and/or gender identity.  In order to accomplish this, I plan to focus on generating a strong bond among LGBT individuals, allies, and the rest of Duke’s campus. This blog will serve as an important component of that mission.

 

To all of the first-year students out there, welcome to Duke! It was just a year ago when I was in your shoes, scrutinizing the degree of acceptance on campus, hoping to find my niche as an out and proud individual. I can thank Blue Devils United for a great degree of my personal growth over the past year, as the community has fostered my development as an aspiring advocate and activist.

 

My first vivid memory of Duke’s strong affirmation of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities goes hand-in-hand with one of my very first memories of Duke itself. When I visited campus for the first time as an eager p-frosh on Blue Devil Days, the election for Amendment 1 (North Carolina’s gay marriage ban) was looming. Even though the amendment passed and I was deeply saddened like many others in the community here, the weeks that led up to the election that May featured an outpouring of support from students and faculty on campus. Here is a photograph that I took of Friedl Building on East Campus during Blue Devil Days in April 2012.

 

 

 

Thank you so much for reading. I’m looking forward to hearing from and meeting all of you! Join us at our general body meetings every other Wednesday, and don’t hesitate to shoot me an email if you’d like to grab lunch or coffee to hear more about Blue Devils United and LGBT life at Duke.

 

 

Welcome! From Sunny

Hi friends and welcome first-years! I’m Sunny Frothingham, native Durhamite, BDU Outreach Chair, Public Policy/Women’s Studies Double Major, and Ally! 

For me, being an ally means I am dedicated to personally supporting as well as publically advocating alongside people who face social, institutional, economic, and legal discrimination because of their sexual orientation and/ or gender identity. Of course, Allyship can be expressed in a variety of ways and mean different things to different people, but there’s no doubt that it is fundamental to making Duke a better place.

When I came to campus, most of my engagement with LGBT issues and community was with a few friends who came out in high school and my denomination’s struggle with the decision to allow the ordination of openly lesbian and gay ministers.  I first got involved with advocacy though efforts to expand Duke’s Gender Neutral Housing options.   My first year here Gender Neutral Housing was strictly limited to certain parts of Central Campus, but through partnerships, research, advocacy, and a whole lot of navigating bureaucracy, my work alongside other campus advocates was successful in ensuring the availability of Gender Neutral Housing on West Campus this year.

My experience working on Gender Neutral Housing Policy (which I’ll be writing a thesis on this year, YAY) was an extremely formative experience for me, and really sparked my interest in doing more about legal and institutional discrimination.  This summer I learned a ton working in the LGBT Policy Department of a think tank in D.C., where I got to research and write about all kinds of policies that disparately impact LGBT people (including, but so much more than marriage).

I’m excited to bring my allyship to the BDU executive board this year, but even if you aren’t interested in the leadership or policy sides of things there are a million ways to make a positive impact here—like educating yourself, being conscious of gendered language and pronouns, hanging a Pride Flag, marching in the Parade, helping with the Drag Show, coming to the Center, and joining BDU.  I can’t wait to meet you!

Welcome! From Fiona

Hello everyone! My name is Fiona McCrossin, I’m a sophomore here at Duke and I absolutely love primatology, animal rights activism, and LGBT activism. I am studying in the Evolutionary Anthropology department and I have an amazing job at the Duke Lemur Center (it’s one of the best parts of my college experience). I’m also the Blog Editor for this blog! So, if you’d like to write for this blog, send me an email and your thoughts will be here in no time!

 

I try to see the spectrum of sexuality and gender as objectively as possible, but I do have a subjective view influenced by my identity as a bisexual individual, and my exploration in the realm of gender; fitting in as a strictly female person isn’t exactly right, so I might identify as bigender, but my self-exploration of gender is relatively new and I think I have more to learn before discovering the identity that I have always had, yet never been able to pinpoint.

My personal ties to the LGBT, or queer, community make activism extra rewarding for me, but I also love to support individuals with identities which are different from mine. This semester I’m acting as the chair of our committee for Trans Day of Remembrance (feel free to get in touch with me if you’d like to participate!) I love being a member of Blue Devils United, the campaigns that we engage in are fantastic from an activism standpoint and from a social standpoint, as I love working with the other members of the BDU executive board. The fun activities that BDU organizes and co-organizes are also a super-enjoyable part of my life and this year I’m hoping to perform in the Drag Show!