School Assignment: Interview of one of the college's minority-related institutions.

Organization: LGBSU (Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Student Union).

Written March 25, 1997.

     For my interview, I called the LGBSU, or the Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Student Union. I called and asked to speak to one of the co-chairs, who were not in at the time, but the receptionist said they would call me back. Not fifteen minutes later, a Mr. Pablo De La Llama called for me, and I introduced myself and explained what I was doing. We decided to do the interview over the phone, since both of us had very busy schedules. The first thing I asked Pablo was what some of the goals of the LGBSU were. He replied, and I quote, "There's three major goals of the LGBSU; one is to provide support, one is to provide education, and one is to provide a comfortable social environment for gays and lesbians on campus...gays, lesbians, and bisexuals." He expounded on each of these goals, fully explaining each one. The support goal is, in his opinion, the most important. "...so the people we are trying to help out most is our lesbian, gay, and bisexual...transgender, and everything in between." He explained how there are weeky and biweekly discussion groups, some of the past topics being gay marriage and random acts of violence. They have a coming out group, also. The education goal is achieved through their speakers bureau. They talk to lots of people in all of the different UF colleges, and to the police department, residence halls, classes, and as many other places as possible. They hope in the future to be able to talk to sororities and fraternities. For the social goal, they try to provide safe and comfortable environment for gay people to meet other homosexuals. After we finished with this question, I voiced my concern about whether he felt comfortable being interviewed. He said he was fine with the whole idea and that it helps people get educated. Next, I asked what kind of obstacles he saw that were stopping the goals from being met. He replied that the campus is helpful and open-minded, so he saw no real obstacles. None of the "random acts of violence" mentioned had ever happened to him personally. He offered the information that people come out of the closet when they get to college a lot more often than they do in high school, because, and I quote, "college is the beginning of the rest of your life." I mentioned that a former roommate of mine came out in eighth grade, to which he laughingly replied that that probably would have led him to suicide. He said, "here on campus, the people are a little bit more open-minded, more informed, and just all-in-all more supportive." He said he considers himself very lucky to be in an environment with so few obstacles. "To tell you the truth, I cannot think of one right now." I told him that was probably a result of their organization doing a good job, as it seemed that if a student wasn't an open advocate of gay and lesbian activities, they at least tolerated it. He agreed, "Either they're supportive, or they don't care." Based on the response of the students, I asked, did he think his goals had been achieved in a satisfactory time period? He said that he thought that if one person came to a meeting and felt more comfortable with their homosexuality, they'd succeeded. He said he feels that he achieves his goal almost every day. For an organization that's only been around for ten years or so, they've got a very good response...they have 150-200 members. I believe that the LGBSU is very well organized...much more so than I thought, as I figured it was probably just a support group or something...and I really think that they are doing a good job. I personally think that UF is very well-informed about gays and lesbians, as opposed to the idiocy I saw in high school, where homophobia was rampant. I wonder if other universities have lesbian and gay groups as effective as this one...I would hope so.

[My comment: Don't ask me why the whole essay is one giant paragraph. I don't know. The teacher gave me a "superior" on it and commented, "How refreshing--a change from the more-often heard complaints about persecution."]

Back to:

BACKLINKS:

MAIN PAGE
ABOUT ME
MY LIFE