While marriage equality is often discussed in the news and on social media, Elon University’s LGBTQIA panel discussion showed that there are many other pressing issues in the community.
The panel, as part of Elon’s 2013 Pride Week, brought in students and professors from campus to talk about prominent issues for LGBTQIA people both in the United States and around the world.
With the Supreme Court hearing cases on the legality of the Defense of Marriage Act and California’s Proposition 8 just last month, marriage equality was one issue of interest for many attending the panel.
Senior Emily Kane, an advocacy and education chair for Spectrum, Elon’s queer-straight alliance, said she believed that not only would DOMA be overturned, but that the court would rule widely on Prop 8 and overturn same-sex marriage bans in all states.
“The nation is ready for it,” Kane said. “Yes, it’s controversial, but what are we going to do, wait another 10 years?”
Part of Kane’s optimism rested in the belief that Chief Justice John Roberts would vote in favor of overturning same-sex marriage bans.
“Roberts is young enough that I don’t think he wants to be on the wrong side of history,” Kane said.
One panelist, senior Laura Lee Sturm, vice president of Spectrum, talked about the importance of gender non-specific housing on college campuses. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill recently approved gender non-specific housing, and Sturm has worked to lift roommate gender requirements in Elon apartments such as the Oaks.
“What it says is this is an inclusive type of housing where we don’t concerned about labels,” Sturm said.
While UNC Chapel Hill has approved gender non-specific housing, a bill was recently introduced in the North Carolina General Assembly that would get rid of gender non-specific housing in all UNC schools, unless residents are married or siblings. Some schools already offer gender non-specific housing arrangements.
“For those students, this protection that they already had is going to be taken away,” Sturm said.
Another issue close to students was the ban on openly gay members and leaders in the Boy Scouts of America. While there have been efforts to change this policy in the past, the current push has been large enough that the Boy Scouts has started surveying local scout councils about the policy.
“Anyone who believes in the Scouts has an obligation to overturn this policy,” said junior Mat Goldberg, an Eagle Scout who spoke on the Scouts on the panel.
On April 23, the Boy Scouts of America will release the results of the survey, and from that data, they will form a new policy on gay members. Goldberg and others on campus will hold a discussion about the policy on May 2.
Speaking on other national issues, Kat Rands, assistant professor of education, addressed the disproportionate lack of health insurance among transgender and transsexual Americans.
“People who are trans have a higher rate of unemployment,” Rands said. “So that leads to higher rates of uninsurance."
Rands pointed out that, while the Affordable Care Act would allow more people to get insured, not only are hormone treatments not covered by insurance, but the health care system itself is not geared to accommodate gender diversity. And with more hospital paperwork becoming digitized, Rands argued that the problem is getting worse.
“On a paper copy, you can make notes to the side or skip sections,” Rands said. “Online, you have to follow it as the system is set up.”
Outside of the United States, the panel pointed to important examples of discrimination, primarily a ban on “homosexual propaganda” in Russia. The bill, which has not yet been approved by President Vladimir Putin, would outlaw the “propaganda of homosexuality among minors.” Anything that could be seen by minors as “promoting homosexuality” would be banned, and those who made or distributed it would be fined heavily.
“Russia has already gotten in trouble when it banned pride parades,” said Safia Swimelar, assistant professor of political science. Swimelar predicted that this bill, if enacted, will eventually go to the European courts and be overturned.
While Russia is very powerful by itself, smaller countries like Uganda and Nigeria, which had very strict anti-LGBTQIA laws, softened their laws after international pressure, which Swimelar said is a positive sign of a global diffusion of LGBTQIA acceptance.
“The problem is there is no international treaty specifically on LGBTQIA people,” Swimelar said. “It’s hard to stop discrimination when there’s no law being broken.”