Researchers Find Homophobia, Intolerance At WSU Lesbians, Gays Face Student Hostility, Silence From University Officials

It was the moment most gay men dread: coming out of the closet, to Dad.

But in the case of this Washington State University student, the encounter ended with his father placing an arm around his shoulder.

“Then he asked me, ‘Son, are you going to be OK over there at WSU?’ I told him I just didn’t know.”

University researchers, who interviewed the student for a survey on gay, lesbian and bisexual life at WSU, concluded last year that things are not OK for homosexual students.

In 10 focus groups, funded by the College of Liberal Arts, researchers found straight students holding a range of biases against homosexuals. Heterosexual students would say they tolerated homosexuals - as long as they didn’t make their sexuality known. Using epithets such as “faggot” and “dyke” were commonplace around campus.

Other students said WSU was not the place for gay and lesbian students to be.

“I have a gay cousin,” said one unidentified student in the survey. “If he came here, I think he would be killed.”

WSU and other area universities have taken several steps to improve the campus climate for gays and lesbians. But facing scrutiny from conservative parents and legislators, their efforts lack the zeal of more socially accepted programs for minorities like African Americans.

Comparing efforts for blacks and other minorities with those for gays and lesbians is “like comparing a turtle and a snail,” said John Streiff, head of the Gay Lesbian Bisexual Association at the University of Idaho.

“The theme is be supportive - but in an invisible way,” said Valerie Jenness, a WSU sociology professor and co-author of last year’s study.

These are awkward times for area college administrators eager to create an accepting cultural climate on their campuses while appeasing their states’ conservative leanings.

When they look at their state legislatures, they see referendums on gay rights and, in Washington’s case, proposed legislation banning same-sex marriages.

On campus, students want to feel free to express who they are without retribution. Gay and lesbian faculty and staff want benefit packages giving partners the same health coverage that heterosexual employees receive for their spouses.

Eastern Washington University, WSU and the UI all have anti-discrimination statements that include sexual orientation. Along with more than 2,000 other colleges and universities, they have organizations for gay, lesbian and bisexual students.

“Our commitment is to treat all of our faculty and staff and students equitably,” said Geoff Gamble, interim provost at WSU. “It doesn’t matter what categories they’re in.”

A welcoming environment is key to a quality education, said Warren Blumenfeld, founder of the National Gay Student Center and author of “Homophobia: How We All Pay the Price.”

“When one student group is the target of hate or attacks, that detracts from the entire educational situation,” he said.

But beyond the creation of student centers, contend critics, the universities’ efforts are less resolute.

“I don’t see them doing anything that isn’t reactionary,” said the UI’s Streiff. “They just wait for a problem to pop up and put a Band-Aid on it.”

WSU administrators last year discussed asking the state’s Public Employee Benefits Board to extend benefits to unmarried domestic partners, including same-sex partners.

But when the board took testimony on the issue in January, no one from WSU spoke or wrote.

In the past five years, WSU has hired spouses of about 40 faculty through a “partner accommodation” program aimed in large part at recruiting and retaining women and minorities.

The school made no offer to the partner of Bobbi Bonace, a lesbian and director of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Allies Program, when Bonace was recently offered a job as coordinator of athletic programs at California State University, Monterey Bay.

By letting her go, said Bonace, the university is failing to live up to its commitment to the programs she oversees.

“It is politically impossible for this university to do anything that might give the impression that they have accommodated a lesbian couple,” Bonace said Friday, shortly after faxing her contract to Monterey Bay. “There is a homophobic response that is real clear here.”

WSU’s Gamble said the school has not received political flak for the gay and lesbian program or Bonace’s $41,600 salary.

But the flak is there for the taking.

Several dozen students last year rallied against the gay and lesbian center before student senators approved its existence and $4,000 in funding. Two students picketed a gay youth conference held at WSU last weekend.

More substantial dissent is brewing in Olympia.

State Rep. Joyce Mulliken, R-Ephrata, co-chairwoman of the House Higher Education Committee, earlier this week said she plans to write state college presidents asking about state money and facilities being used for gay and lesbian programs.

“I don’t have a problem with cultural or ethnic diversity at all,” she said. “That’s what America is all about. But we’re talking a decided lifestyle, a group of people who are trying to force their lifestyle into our culture as a culture. And it’s not. It’s a choice about how you want to live.”

The argument that homosexuality is something one is born with is “a theory being promoted to excuse an act,” said Mulliken. Biology aside, her convictions against homosexuality could lead her to lobby against higher education spending if gay and lesbian programs continue, she said. Such pressure is to be expected, said Rob Rhoads, author of “Coming Out in College - The Struggle for a Queer Identity.”

“In general, presidents and senior administrators recognize the needs of these students, but they also recognize the political pressure,” he said.

Rhoads said universities need “transformative leaders” who can articulate the value of gay and lesbian programs, but that’s “a risky thing to do.” he said.

In that sense, he said, university administrators need the courage to come out of their own closets.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo