Gay relationships may be accepted in parts of the US but for some students on the Langston campus, it’s still taboo.
Some LGBT students describe their sexual orientation as the elephant in the room. They say their experiences range from simple interactions to being completely left out of conversations or being denied entrance into organizations due to their sexuality.
One of those students is Rondarius Lewis, a 19-year-old psychology major from Oklahoma City. Lewis said he initially felt excited about attending and hoped for a normal college experience. “I came here expecting to have a normal experience and just have a big community and network with everyone,” Lewis said.
That was quickly shut down when they learned of the attitudes many people hold towards a person who identifies as gay.
“My dreams are shut down quickly because I learned I have a lot of allies that are women, but also the other half of campus are men and it feels like I’m completely alienated by them,” Lewis said. Lewis identifies as non-binary, but if asked they will usually use the word gay.
“I still call myself a gay man because a lot of times it’s just easier to say,” Lewis said. Because the conversation of gender isn’t big on this campus, Lewis said he is viewed as a very feminine gay male. “I’m constantly sexualized and I feel like that may play into a bit of misogyny because if whenever I get into it with people, nine times out of 10 the first insults they throw always has something to do with gay sex.”
Sometimes Lewis will notice his female friends being greeted with smiles and conversation while he feels completely ignored.“ You don’t have to scream, ‘you hate gay people’ to be homophobic,” Lewis said. “It shows in the way they act.”
Homophobia can be described as the hatred or dislike of gay people presented through prejudice and discrimination. Being gay or someone within the LGBT community, while it has gotten better, the conversation around it is still taboo in the black community. The issues the LGBT community faces in today’s society are similar to the issues African Americans have to deal with when attending PWIs. “Black people fail to realize the similarities between the oppression of them being black and the oppression of gay people and they hate to hear that comparison,” Lewis said. There is a clear disdain for LGBT life on campus and for more reasons than one, the gay community seems to be the main focus of this discrimination. “I’ve been blocked for telling someone happy birthday,” Lewis said.
Lewis feels safe only because of their friends. “I feel like if I was by myself more, I’d probably encounter more remarks,” They said. Lewis explained how simple things just like that could turn violent, being that he isn’t a “pushover.” If a situation were to occur, Lewis said “I would like jump on the situation because I don’t want other gay people to feel how I feel. An alumnus who previously attended the University from 2015-2022 had similar experiences.
Jorell Smallwood is the former president of Phi Beta Sigma and the Student Government Association at Langston. During his freshman year, he knew only 3 out gay students, one being himself. “If you were anything other than straight, it was really like you really had to kind of keep it on the hush,” Smallwood said.
“Slick stuff was said but it didn’t go more than that.” Smallwood expressed how the comments never bothered him or his classmates because “they had smart mouths and could fight.” A theme of gay men having to come arcoss as aggressive in order to be left alone seems to be a pattern.
When it comes down to one of the worst encounters Smallwood had to face dealing with homophobia at Langston, it could only be described as “embarrassing,” Smallwood said. Smallwood had been interested in joining an organization in his early years here, being that he was friends with some members of that same organization. One of the members of the organization approached Smallwood and told him if he wanted to “be with them,” Smallwood said he have to “lose that faggot shit.” These are 2 out of many situations where gay students feel a sense of alienation and discrimination.
20-year-old Quency White, a sophomore nursing major from Fort Worth, Texas expressed a different set of experiences than the previous two testimonies. “I haven’t had nobody bash me for being gay. They’ve just been really cool about it.” White said. Being more on the masculine side, White believes this is one of the reasons he does not experience hate like Lewis. “That sucks because granted, I’m not as feminine as him but I’m still gay.” White said. However, from previous experiences in high school, White was surprised with how his first year turned out. “I was really shocked though. A lot of people were open.”
Even with a large presence of gay people at Langston, there still isn’t any kind of group to support them. “People who go through homophobia on a day-to-day basis, they don’t have that support,” White said. White has always had that support about his sexuality from his family, but that isn’t the case for a lot of LGBT youth. According to the National Network for Youth, LGBT youth are 120% more likely to experience homelessness than any other group.
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The Gazette serves as the student voice of Langston University. It is produced within the Department of Communication as a teaching tool and local news source for the campus community. The views and opinions expressed within are those of the writers whose names appear with the articles and do not necessarily represent the views of Langston University.
