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The Meliorist, Vol. 19 (March 13, 1985), page 16WTHEMEUOR 1ST MARCH 13, 1985 Gay and lesbian association for UofL? By Peter Bagnall A few weeks ago, The Melior;.->i ran an "Ampersand" message from a student named Alex, who was interested in forming a gay and lesbian students association at the II of !j. The following is an interview with "Alex", a pseudonym chosen for obvious reasons of confidentiality. Meliorist: Why do you want to start up a gay and lesbian student association at the University of Ijethhridge9 Alex: To follow precedent—most ma jor universities in North America have one, even small ones like Bishop's, with a student population of about 1000 Meliorist: Have you worked previously in the gay and lesbian movement? Alex: I have done some work with a local group that is social rather than political, as well as having attended gay and lesbian conferences and worked with a gay youth group. Meliorist: Do you think that there is enough interest on campus to form a gay and lesbian students' association? Alex: What do you mean by "enough interest"? Meliorist: Do you feel that there are enough gay men and lesbians on cam pus to form a.tch a group? Alex: Well, statistically, if we go by the Kinsey figure of 10 percent, that would mean that tl ere are some 300 or so gay and lesion students on campus. Personally, I only know a very small number, probably only twenty who are "out." But I'm sure that there are many more that I don't know. Meliorist: Have you received any serious or derogatory replies to your message in "Ampersand"? Alex: Yes—but none derogatory. Of course I'm not going to give you their names. As a matter of fact, we've already had an inaugaral meeting. Meliorist: Can you tell us what was discussed at this meeting? Alex: General things. We talked about ove-all purpose, possible activities and structure. Some of the activities sug gested were a support group, peer counselling, educational functions, both for the group and for the university community, and social activities— probably not cabarets, at least to begin with—social activities for gay and lesbian students, anyways. Some of the other things discussed were political activities and a "library" of gay and lesbian material. Meliorist: When you talk about structure, do you mean becoming a club? Would the Students' Union go for this? Alex: Well, the current rules as they are now would require us to submit a list of our membership to the Council, which would threaten the confidentiality of our members. Instead, we are looking at forming something along the lines of a student service organization, like that at UBC. Meliorist: How does the UBC organization work? Alex: Gays and Lesbians at UBC, as well as the Women's Centre there, are "service organizations" on their campus, and provide many of the services I mentioned befcr** They are also eligible for a budget and an office from their council. Meliorist: You plan on asking Students' Council for an office and a budget, then? Alex: Well, seeing as how Students' Council has no spare office space, we may have to go to other sources. As for money, we really don't need much, just enough for a few books and subscriptions to magazines like The Body Politic. Melir -rist: If you do get an office, what would it be used for? Who would staff WtfM. the office? Alex: Primarily, it would house our library, and would serve as a focal point for the whole organization, or at least the organization's activities, such as the conselling and drop-in centre. As to who would staff the offce, probably .some of the more self-assured members of the organization. Meliorist: You're not worried then about being as visible as you would be if you staffed an office? Alex: If we become visible enough to go through the hassles of obtaining an office, we probably won't be too worried about staffing it. Meliorist: Do you worry about problems such as threats, property damage and physical violence if you go ahead with this? Alex: I have heard stories of problems other people have had in other places, OVERDRINKING / like the taste of a cold beer on a hot day, but I certainly don't think you have to get the gong together with a couple of cases of beer just to celebrate the fact you've hod a bit of exercise" pHN WOOD OLYMPIC SUVtRMlDAluSl Canada i* Health Sante et arid Welfare Bien-etre social Canada Canada such as the problems at Bishop's reported in last year's Meliorist, but I have never had any really negative reactions from anybody in Lethbridge. I believe that the university community is either liberal enough or complacent enough not to react negatively to our endeavors. Meliorist: What do you find to be the major problems in being a gay person at the U of L? Alex: The atmosphere in Lethbridge is suche that people are, or at least appear to be—and I don't mean to be too derogatory—"rednecks," or at least very conservative in their attitudes. Because of this, gays and lesbians on campus tend to remain isolated from one another, and it's hard even to become friends with other gays and les bians. This problem causes me, personally, and I'm sure many others like me, great distress, out of loneliness if nothing else. Also, the plain ignorance of those around us. They're filled with homophobic myths about homosexuality. Meliorist: What kinds of myths to U of L students seem to believe? Alex: First of all, they think we're all stereotypes. We don't all carry AIDS. We don't all molest children—from studies I have read, 98 percent of the men who molest children are heterosexuals. We're not all promiscuous, effeminate, trendy or creative. And we're not all depressed, neurotic or psychotic. We're basically normal people. Meliorist: You touched on AIDS, which has become a controversial topic synonymous with homosexuality. Now there are AIDS "myths" circulating, aren't there? Alex: I know. Unfortunately the commercial media gleefully carries any AIDS horror story they uncover I have talked to people who believe that homosexual acts themselves are the cause of AIDS—or at least the only way to transmit the disease. But it's not restricted to male homosexuals. Governments have done little in the way of AIDS research, with over 1500 deaths reported so far—but look what they did when 30 or so heterosexual males died of Legionnaire's Disease. Forty percent of the victims of AIDS are people of color. Maybe when white heterosexual males start dying frem AIDS, we'll see real action. And on top of all this, there's the fear AIDS has caused within the gay community. Meliorist: Anything else you'd like to say? Alex: Yes. I can still be contacted in confidence c/o the Counselling Centre, The Meliorist or the Students' Union. They only forward letters they receive addressed to "Alex"