The SIG needs to continue to raise the issue of having the conference
planners sensitive about holding future conferences in cities which do not
have anti-gay ordinances or laws. Phoenix might have proven to be a
problem had the Arizona ordinance been passed. Since NAFSA stands to lose
enormous sums of money if it pulls out late from a conference site, the
SIG may wish to exercise its clout by coordinating boycotts of certain
businesses if NAFSA has to keep a contract with a city which introduces an
anti-homosexuality ordinance after the initial agreement was signed.
There were also comments that other mainstream sessions raised sexual
orientation topics as part of the general theme (e.g. health, orientation,
etc.). It was suggested that at future conferences we try to have our
themes form part of general sessions, in order to reach the NAFSA
membership which may shy away from overt lesbigay topics.
There were some comments about lesbigay topics at regional NAFSA's and
Scott encouraged the SIG members to continue to raise the visibility of
such topics when planning regional sessions.
A number of potential topics were suggested for future conferences: impact
of affirmative action rollback, being a gay student in a foreign country,
predeparture orientation for lesbigay students, sexuality survey results
from Indiana University, diversity in NAFSA, problem of being 'out' in
your profession, experiences of various professionals with domestic
partnership successes, ways that gay-friendly groups can network with
other minorities against hate groups, feedback from SIT program in Gay
Lesbian studies, and a debate-style session with various perspectives on
sexual orientation.
The group commended Scott King with emotional applause for carrying
the SIG so well for so long. It was noted that it will take more than a
handful of individuals to carry on the work he alone started for us.
There were 41 individuals in attendance, representing 10 regions of NAFSA
and two other countries.
The meeting adjourned at 5:45 p.m. and many from the group agreed to meet
at a social gathering at the Mint later on in the evening.
NAFSA: Association of International Educators
New Orleans, LA
Thursday, June 1, 1995
Submitted by Kathleen Sideli
Scott King of Old Dominion University opened the meeting by explaining
that the original time for the meeting had been scheduled concurrently
with the opening Mardi Gras parade which seemed exclusionary, in an ironic
way, so he requested the new meeting time. In the future, the group will
attempt to meet earlier in the NAFSA conference. Likewise, a social event
will be planned earlier in the conference. He commented that the
conference organizers were at least granting our SIG mainstream times in
mainstream locations, unlike a few years ago when the group had to
struggle to gain access to meeting places at convenient times.
Scott King reviewed that the SIG's purpose remains four-fold: Provide
counseling for international students about their own sexual orientation,
prepare and support study abroad students who are lesbigay, combat
homophobia and heterosexism within NAFSA, and provide support for gay,
lesbian and bisexual professionals in international education. Scott
reiterated that membership in the SIG does not represent any statement
about one's sexual orientation but simply that the membership supports the
overall goals of the group.
To show the impact the SIG has had on the organization, Scott reviewed the
number of programs related to lesbigay topics offered at the New
Orleans conference including a pre-conference workshop, "Heterosexism and
Homophobia--Issues for the International Educator", "Lesbigay
Issues in Professional Associations", "Resources for International
Students on Homosexuality" and "Issues in the Advising of Gay and Lesbian
Students". There were two sessions in which the SIG holds a particular
interest even though the topics were not limited to the lesbigay
community: "Cultural Considerations in HIV Prevention and AIDS Education
Programs" and "Best of Region VIII--"Psychosocial Implications of AIDS."
Although HIV/AIDS are issues in which many gays, lesbians and bisexuals
have a personal interest, heterosexual NAFSans should be as equally
concerned. We need to work on breaking the connection that people make
between homosexuality and AIDS: if you have AIDS, you are gay and
if you are gay, you have AIDS. Homosexuals have been more involved with
the educational process of HIV/AIDS simply because the homosexual
community has been so deeply affected by this pandemic. If anyone in NAFSA
needs reason why HIV prevention should be an important issue for
everyone, regardless of sexual orientation, we can remind them that
adolescent, heterosexual women are the single group with the highest
number of newly-reported AIDS cases today. This is a particularly relevant
statistic for SECUSSAns since the majority of students who study abroad
are female.
Scott King informed the group that he can no longer continue as chair of
the SIG and asked for nominations for someone to replace him. He
apologized for not having time to put together a newsletter this year and
commented that he had only one suggestion for an article. The group
recognized that Scott had carried the SIG almost entirely on his own from
its inception. Mark Seaman and Kathy Sideli were nominated as
co-chairs, to balance the representation and to share the work load. It
was clear that the group realized that more volunteers will be needed if
the SIG is going to continue making significant contributions to NAFSA.
Instead of continuing with a steering committee, the group decided to
operate with the input of a number of volunteers. Brian Buchiarelli
volunteered to publish and mail out the newsletter from now. Steven
Cunningham will be working on facilitating our computer linkages. Daniel
Soto explained that he can help set us up on a private bulletin board.
Mark Seaman is going to set up a new database with the names and e-mail
addressess submitted at the meeting, merged with Scott King's data from
past years, to get the membership sorted out so that mailing labels can be
produced for the newsletter. A number of other individuals left their
cards to show that they are willing to volunteer for whatever services are
needed.
Scott mentioned that Paul Krueger, a member of our original steering
committee, is very ill and asked that we all sign a poster-card for him.
He also mentioned that he thought the SIG should coordinate a memorial
service for SIG members who have died within the last few years. Bo Keppel
from East Stroudsburg University offered to coordinate such a service.
Indiana University Office of Overseas Study
Copyright 2000, The Trustees of Indiana University
site url: http://www.indiana.edu/~overseas/lesbigay
Comments: NAFSA: Rainbow SIG