Lesbian Interview

 Transcript:
Q: How is being LGBT at the University of Texas?
A: It's actually pretty nice here. I've been to Baylor before, Baylor University. I spent a year there and that was awful, so by comparison this lace is heaven on Earth. I mean it's not perfect, your still going to run into issues here and there, but I would say for a Texas school it is really being here.

Q: What supporting resources do you know of at the University for the LGBT students?
A: The main thing that we have here is the Gender and Sexuality center on the second floor of the SAC building. that acts as kind of a safe space for all queer identified individuals as well as women on campus. It's open to everybody. There's a lot of programs that are hosted there that teach you about the community and in addition to that we have student groups on campus such as; Queer People Of Color and Allies that cater to certain individuals, Texas Standout which is the activism group on campus, and UT Gaymers which is kind of a social gaming forum for queer individuals.



        

Q: Have you encountered any homophobia at the University? If so, how have you dealt with it?
A: I personally haven't actually dealt with a whole lot, but I've herd from a lot of friends who have gone through things here. I've had homophobic slurs hurled at some of my friends by strangers they didn't even know from vehicles and what have you. I've herd of a couple incidents of that this year, so that's really not ok. Institutionally, there are some issues I have, such as lack of gender neutral housing on campus or like gender neutral bathrooms, things like that. It's not really direct homophobia, but it is kind of ignoring a minority and so it kind of comes across that way. There are people on campus who will come and protest any queer events that we put on and that's a show of homophobia as well.

Q: Is there anything that you would want to add about being LGBT at the University of Texas?
A: Again if you go to the Gender and Sexuality center, there's a lot more that can be learned about the culture and the struggles of the community, so I would advise pretty much to anyone on campus visiting the GSC at least once. Come see some peers for pride performances cause that's another forum where your going to hear more issues and we are trying to get a lot of stuff passed here at the University, better climate for queer students, so if you hear about any of those such as the gender neutral housing issue, the gender neutral bathrooms, getting domestic partner benefits for the professors. If you hear about those events or want to get involve, come to the GSC and ask how you can, because we can use a lot of help with that.