FUND FOR REUNION/PRINCETON BTGALA
A Non-profit Association of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Princeton Alumni, Students, Faculty and Staff
P.O. Box 1481, Princeton, New Jersey 08542
| NEWS FROM THE FUND FOR REUNION/PRINCETON BTGALA A Non-profit Association of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Princeton Alumni, Students, Faculty and Staff P.O. Box 1481, Princeton, New Jersey 08542 |
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| Volume XVI, No. 2 | April, 2003 |
May 30 - June 1 is reunions weekend this year, and FFR is once again hosting activities for the LGBT community throughout the weekend. All of our events are open to LGBT Princeton alumni, students, faculty, staff and their friends and loved ones.
This year we are working hard to spruce up the events and make them better than ever! Last year's Friday night event in Whig Hall was a tremendous success - we're taking over the Library of the Bendheim Center for Finance - formerly Dial Lodge this year for another great Friday evening mixer. This is an opportunity both to socialize with fellow LGBT Princetonians as well as share your thoughts with the leaders of FFR.
We will be having our annual meeting and reception Saturday after the P'Rade in the Bendheim Center for Finance, formerly Dial Lodge. President Tilghman has agreed to come visit us at 5:15 pm. This is the first time a Princeton President has visited our Reunions event - please come and thank her for reaching out to us!
We've heard you loud and clear and in the interest of having a much gayer dance, we have moved the dance to Whig Hall for an event you won't forget. Join DJ and current Grad Student Blue Guldal as the students of the Pride Alliance and the Queer Grad Caucus take us into Sunday morning!
What? |
Where? |
When? |
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Friday, May 30 | |||
| FFR Mixer with wine and beer and munchies | Library of the Bendheim Center for Finance - formerly Dial Lodge | 9:00pm - 11:00pm | |
Saturday, May 31st | |||
| Reception - Wine, Cheese and Socializing and President Tilghman! | Library of the Bendheim Center for Finance - formerly Dial Lodge | 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm | |
| Annual Meeting | Library of the Bendheim Center for Finance - formerly Dial Lodge | Post Reception | 8:00 pm |
| DANCE! | Whig Hall Lounge, Ground Floor | Midnight - 4:00 am | |
The daffodils are finally starting to show their heads and reminding us that spring is indeed here, and with it a new spurt of life for the endowment committee.
FFR has initiated a number of meetings and discussions with the Larry Kramer Initiative (LKI) at Yale, and Joanna E. Mizielinska, a queer studies scholar from the University of Warsaw who attended Princeton on a Fulbright scholarship this past year. LKI's executive director, Jonathan D. Katz, has indicated an interest in exploring a joint lecture series with Princeton, funded in part by FFR, which would bring noted speakers to both campuses.
As you may know, Yale has a much more active LGBT and queer academic program than Princeton, and has for many years had full time faculty who have brought queer theorists and scholars on LGBT related topics to the campus as visiting professors in residence. This joint speaker series, if realized, might spark the interest among Princeton's own full time faculty to introduce such a visiting position. A promising idea from last year's endowment committee discussions was that such a position could benefit students and serve a larger goal. Perhaps by drawing on the Woodrow Wilson School's mission, it could bring scholars from other countries who could become active in advancing LGBT rights in their home countries. A key to making such a program a success would be leadership from within Princeton, something that we are working hard to identify and build.
In addition, we are investigating funding a position for a visiting assistant professor in LGBT studies, possibly within the rubric of the program in Gender Studies.
In other endowment committee work, the endowment committee is planning a year-long campaign in the Princeton Alumni Weekly to be launched this fall that will serve to increase the visibility of FFR, and hopefully result in new gifts to the FFR endowment that will support more programs at Princeton.
Whatever pleases you most about us:
All of these are supported out of our operating budget, which is funded by your contributions. Act now and renew your membership with a contribution! Your dues are particularly important this year as expand our role on campus.
Contributions to FFR are tax-deductible! Please drop us an e-mail if your contribution wasn't properly noted.
Member dues are just $25 per year. Friends, Benefactors and Patrons have the honor of watching their contributions make even more of a difference to FFR's work:
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Creating Change 2002, held in Portland, Oregon last November, was an amazing experience for all involved. Five undergraduate students accompanied several graduate students and LGBT Student Services Coordinator Debbie Bazarsky for a weekend of workshops, caucuses, and plenary sessions.
Undergrads attended a variety of workshops on subjects as varied as marriage laws, transgender and gender-queer issues, being queer on campus, and grass roots leadership training. This year's theme focused on racism within the LGBT community, and a number of workshops were dedicated to the subject.
The conference has sparked interest in newcomers for a number of years: all three juniors attending the conference went on to become Pride Alliance officers, just as I did my sophomore year after this wonderful experience.
On behalf of the Pride Alliance, I would like to thank Fund for Reunion for their generous sponsorship of our trip. We thoroughly enjoyed it, and we were able to bring new ideas, contacts, and leadership skills back to campus. Thank you!
After a very successful year, the Pride Alliance said good-bye to some old officers and accepted a new eager group of students who took office in late January. This year we have 10 people working for the Pride Alliance - half are returning officers and half are new to the group. The newly elected co-presidents are Kristopher Kersey '04 and Chinedum Enyinna '04.
Immediately after the elections the group started working hard on the annual LGBT film festival "Queer Articulations". The program planned for next year is very rich, and hopes to engage the broader campus community. There will be two main events, Pride Week and Awareness Week, but the Alliance is also organizing social events and discussion groups. On the first meeting all the officers agreed that in the next year the Alliance should try to strengthen relationships and promote cooperation with the alumni.
The Queer Graduate Caucus (QGC) is the only student organization recognized by Princeton University representing LGBTQ graduate students. QGC welcomes all members of Princeton University as well as the greater Princeton community. The aim of QGC is to stimulate a welcoming and communicative environment, primarily among graduate students, and on a larger scale among the interested and affiliated groups and communities in Princeton.
In serving this aim, QGC has organized social events and educational events. The social events include the Annual Valentine's Day Dance Party, wine & cheese socials, and summer get-togethers.
In addition, QGC is fighting to bring sex-positive workshops to Princeton University. A workshop planned by the QGC was cancelled when administration from the graduate college refused to allow the event to take place on University grounds.
The QGC is also working with the LGBT student services (currently run by Debbie Bazarsky), the Pride Alliance, and the LGBT Task Force.
Perhaps the main educational event of the year organized by QGC is the Annual Queer Policy Series. The 3rd Annual Queer Policy Series was held March 24-March 30 and explored state, national and international policy issues utilizing panels, presentation and roundtable discussions. This year the programming included speakers from Philadelphia's Center for Lesbian and Gay Civil Rights and Amnesty International. Additionally, a film was shown to spark discussion on the inclusion of transgender issues in the formation of public policy.
Recently QGC elections took place and the new officers who took office as of February 20, 2003 are:
President: Cemile "Blue" Guldal (Molecular Biology)
Vice President: Aleks Donev (Applied Math)
Secretary: Jessica Salvatore (Psychology)
Social Chair: Heather White (Religion)
Treasurer: Alberto Galindo (Spanish and Portuguese L. & C.)
Our regional events have been a success just about everywhere we've had them! These events are important both because they are greatly enjoyed by the attendees and because they are a tremendous way for FFR and other similar organizations to find their alumni. Please volunteer to help organize something if there isn't something in your neighborhood! These events can't happen unless we have alumni willing to help pick a place, time, and date and then be there to meet and greet the alumni that come and join in. We can especially use assistance in San Francisco, where we have great attendance, but where we have struggled to get enough volunteers. Please contact us if you would like to help get something going in your neighborhood!
Because of the very large numbers of alumni on our rolls and the frequency of the events, we have been inviting alumni only via the web and by e-mail. If you want to receive our monthly events e-newsletter, send us your e-mail address! Alternatively you can tune in on the web at: http://alumni.princeton.edu/~ffr-gala
One of our own, Dwight McBride '90, was just awarded the 2002 Monette/Horwitz Trust Achievement Award. The award was established by writer Paul Monette before his death to reward independent research which combats homophobia. The award will be given in Los Angeles, Thursday, May 29, 2003 at the Lambda Literary Awards ceremonies at the Biltmore Hotel. McBride is the Chair of the Department of African American Studies at Northwestern University. He is the author of "James Baldwin Now," and "Black Like Us, A Century of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual African American Fiction." Black Like Us has been nominated separately for a Lambda Literary Award in the category of best anthology. We wish to congratulate Dwight on this great honor!
Created by Fringe Benefits, an L.A.-based educational theatre company, Cootie Shots is an eclectic mix of plays, songs and poems that promote tolerance, compassion and acceptance. The pieces help children enter into a dialogue on issues of tolerance and diversity by presenting role models of different cultures, ethnicities, classes, genders, abilities, sexual orientations, religions, ages and appearances. This show is now being performed in schools around the country, with a recent performance in Connecticut starring the incredible Joanne Woodward.
This play has been the target of a lawsuit against the Novato School District in Northern California, initiated by parents who are angry that their children are learning to be tolerant towards gay people. At the same time, there are countless reports of positive changes in the behavior of students who have seen work from the book. Three FFR participants worked on this collection, alum Norma Bowles '84, Artistic Director of Fringe Benefits Theatre, conceived, developed and edited the book, FFR member Bob Stern '82 designed it, and Ricardo Hunter Garcia '79 was marketing consultant. Numerous other Princeton alums and over 500 youth, parents, educators and theatre artists from across the nation, including Tony Kushner, Luis Alfaro and John Fleck also contributed work to the anthology. To purchase this ground-breaking book, visit the Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS Online Store at: http://shop.store.yahoo.com/broadwaycares/cootshotsof.html
To find out more about Cootie Shots, see last year's article in the electronic version of the Princeton Alumni Weekly at: www.princeton.edu/~paw/web_exclusives/features/features_042402b.html To find out more about Fringe Benefits' upcoming projects and programs, e-mail Norma Bowles at normabowles@earthlink.net.
We wish to congratulate FFR Member Jonathan M. Hall '91 on his appointment as Assistant Professor in the Program in Comparative Literature at UC Irvine. His work there will combine queer theory, Japanese film and literature, Asian comparative studies, and critical theory.
Robert J. Hotes AIA '85 and his firm DPK&A Architects LLP have been selected to design the new CAMP Rehoboth Community Center in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. CAMP Rehoboth was created in 1990 to help integrate the area's growing gay and lesbian community into the larger community around it and to serve as a gay and lesbian community service organization. In its first decade, through such programs as CAMPsafe, the Women's Project and a number of health-related programs and social events, CAMP Rehoboth has become an important part of the community and has accomplished much toward promoting cooperation and understanding among all people, including both residents of and visitors to Rehoboth Beach.
The dream is to expand CAMP Rehoboth into a full-service community center, and the vision is to design an inclusive space, with and without walls, that will be a focal point for connecting people, activities and resources, embracing diversity as an essential component. It will be the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community's contribution to creating a home for all. The program calls for adequate room for expansion of existing programs; the creation of an information and referral center; the creation of a lending library/resource center; the establishment of a gay and lesbian youth group; more health, education and wellness programs to meet growing demand; and additional meeting rooms and office space to accommodate the community's needs and CAMP Rehoboth's growth. CAMP Rehoboth hopes to break ground in October 2004 and complete construction by May 2005.
Please let us know if you or another FFR alum have a milestone that we can share.
FFR is a non-profit 501c3 corporation, incorporated independent of Princeton University. We have an operating fund that we use for our day-to-day operations, and an endowment that is earmarked for special endeavors.
We are run by a talented, devoted, unpaid board of volunteers: David Beaty '50, Mark Blasius *90, Shawn Cowls ''87, Brandon Fradd '83, Gordon Harrison '68 *70, Robert Hotes '85, Dick Limoges '60, Philip Mahin '85, Jeff Napoleon '89, Marcus Tye '90, and Elise Wright '83.
Board membership is a privilege available to all dues-paying members of FFR. We are actively looking for alumni interested in serving on our board, in particular women and recent alumni. We are also eager to have more volunteers to help with the Endowment Committee, our web site, the newsletters, membership development, campus support, Reunions and Alumni Day events, and regional alumni events and fundraisers. Please contact us if you would like more information. If you approached us before, please be persistent and hit us up again – we really do want your involvement!
In our last newsletter I wrote of an effort on campus to get the University to respond to our community by establishing a center. Recently a revised draft of the proposal was circulated among a number of students, faculty, staff, and alumni. I was excited to see this proposal become more fleshed out, and I was curious about the representation of the LGBT community as "queer." The first complaints on the usage came from people concerned about the reaction of the administration. They felt that the University was comfortable with the terms "lesbian," "gay," "transgender" and "bisexual" but might not comfortable with using the term "queer."
The last time the word "queer" showed up in an FFR newsletter, I received a number of very heated letters from alumni who were offended by its usage. For them "queer" was the label that straight people branded us with - it meant "odd" or "peculiar" and these alumni saw the term as an insult. "Gay" and "lesbian," on the other hand, were labels and identities that were chosen by gay and lesbian men and women and were intended to have positive connotations. I passed this on and was met with a fairly strong response by undergraduates who seemed even more uncomfortable with gay or lesbian than I was with queer.
As I went about my life over the following week, I overheard the word "gay" being used in the same sorts of derogatory settings as I recall hearing "queer" or "homo" when I was in grade school. One example that stuck out was hearing a 10 year old tell his Dad in a derisive tone, "That was the gayest movie ever." It struck me that "gay" had replaced "queer" as an insult. Suddenly the undergraduates' discomfort with the term made more sense, as did their greater comfort with the word "queer," which to them no doubt sounds somewhat antiquated and possibly even a little quaint. In recent years, there has been a significant movement in LGBT studies that is called "queer theory." This is a philosophical exercise that attempts to remove the notion of people having a sexual identity that reflects their sexual attraction. The notion proposed is that it is wrong to be labeled for ones sexual acts. The label "queer" is substituted as a label that is sexually ambiguous. Though somewhat idealistic and impractical in a world where sexuality is both feared and clung to, it is easy to see how this notion of not being identified by one's sexuality would be compelling. Of course the majority of the people adopting the term are those that others view as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender. Ultimately, queer may become a label as much about one's sexual orientation as the other labels are. Perhaps 15 years from now we'll hear kids calling a movie they didn't like "queer" and young people will turn to a new – or an old – label to identify with?
Names and identities have such power to give pride or to give shame, sometimes both at the same time. As my generation and the one before mine turned to the word "gay" and rejected "queer and "homosexual," the current generation is turning to "queer" and attempting to leave behind "gay" and "lesbian." So much has changed and yet so little.
FFR would like to acknowledge Donna Nadeau '62, who this year donated $7,500. Donna was born Doug Nadeau. After graduating from Princeton, Donna went on to get a law degree at Harvard University and pursue a successful legal career. Forced into early retirement by a condition resembling Parkinson's Disease, Donna has since rebuilt her life as an artist and a woman and an activist for transgendered people. She has also made a video about her journey and has recently undergone experimental surgery that she hopes will help her achieve more independence.
We wish to thank Donna for her generous contribution, half of which will be used towards our general expenses and half of which has been deposited into our Endowment. We hope she will be able to join us at our Reunions reception so that more people can meet this remarkable woman.
Contacting Us: We can be reached at:
Fund for Reunion/Princeton BTGALA, P. O. Box 1481, Princeton, NJ 08542
For faster response, send e-mail to
Fund for Reunion
You can sign up for FFR/Princeton BTGALA using our mail form.
This document was last modified on May 15, 2003.
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