January 2016

JANUARY 2016

LGBT people are welcome. Academically, we are outsiders still.

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Volume 8 Issue 6

5 feature topic University of Hawai‘i:

A Place at the Table

8 puakea Nogelmeier When Sufficient is Not Enough 12 cocoa Chandelier

College Coursework is a Drag (Show)

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18

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18 camaron miyamoto

It’s About Time

23 susan Hippensteele Justice, Violence, and

LGBT Studies

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University of Hawai‘i: A Place at the Table By :

mickey weems |

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At least 54 universities in America and Canada have some kind of LGBT studies curriculum in place. The University of Hawai‘i Manoa is not among them, and this month’s issue of eXpression! Magazine asks why.

Lack of LGBT/queer studies does not mean that UH Manoa is homophobic. There is an LGBT student services (LGBTSS) office on the second floor of the Queen Lili‘uokalani Building. Although no courses in the UH Manoa catalog contain the words “gay,” “queer,” or the acronym “LGBT” in their titles, there are 46 courses that have code words “gender” and “sexuality” in their titles (and one with the word “homosexuality”), indicating that those courses include LGBT issues. In addition to the regular courses listed in the catalog,

there are specialty courses in several departments that could have queer content and even “queer,” “gay,” or “LGBT” in their titles.

Nevertheless, there is no queer studies major, minor, advanced degree or certificate.

LGBT people are welcome at UH Manoa.

What’s missing, however, is a place for us in academia as a people with an international history going back thousands of years, and queer studies as a discipline that is essential for understanding the human condition. We are in

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every culture, every religion, and every political party, even those that hate us. Understanding our role in sexual orientation, gender expression, and sexual physiology is important in anthropology, psychology, sociology, theology, medicine, political science, law, art, drama, dance, sports – the list goes on – but still we do not have our own curriculum. Academically, we are outsiders still.

Since the Stonewall Uprising in 1969, the word “gay” has gone international: it means the same thing in English, Chinese, Russian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, Japanese and Greek, yet one does not often find “gay” (or “LGBT,” or gay’s more controversial sister, “queer”) in official campus discourse unless one specifically looks for it.

But there are people at the University of Hawai‘i who are willing to set things straight, so to speak. The University of Hawai‘i Department of Women’s Studies includes courses on gender and sexuality studies, making it a good home for some kind of LGBT program. The English department has also been especially active working with students whose degrees deal with LGBT themes, as have other departments – perhaps something along interdepartmental lines could be created.

For this issue, we interviewed Puakea Nogelmeier, professor at the University of Hawai‘i Kawaihuelani Center for Hawaiian Language, to discuss his career at UH and the importance of LGBT visibility, both in general and for students of Hawaiian language and culture. Susan Hippensteele at the University of Hawai‘i Department of Women’s Studies, talked about her work as a student advocate, and the role her department could play in putting

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together a queer curriculum. Coordinator of LGBT Student Services at UH Manoa, Camaron Miyamoto gave us a wish list of changes he’d like to see for 2016 and beyond.

A remarkable LGBT story in this issue is that of Cocoa Chandelier, proud mahu and drag queen extraordinaire. Chandelier teaches a course on drag performance for the University of Hawai‘i Department of Theatre and Dance that requires students to perform drag as well as know its history. This university-level course is the first of its kind. Chandelier’s accomplishment goes right alongside with the other LGBT firsts that Hawai‘i can claim: the decision by the American Psychiatric Association to drop “homosexuality” from its list of deviant behaviors during its annual convention in Honolulu in 1973, the kick-start of the marriage equality movement with Judge Steven Levinson’s ruling in 1993, and the election of Kim Coco Iwamoto as the first openly transgender official in a statewide office in 2006. Add the importance of mahu and aikane in Hawaiian history, and UH has more than enough reason to take LGBT studies seriously.

The gains we have made are constantly assailed by the ignorant. Republican contenders for president have vowed to roll back LGBT rights if elected. One college, Carson Newman in Tennessee, has just won the right to ban LGBT students from its campus. The University of Hawai‘i should at least catch up with the other 54 universities, not only for the sake of education, but also to set an example as an institute of higher learning for everyone on the islands. UH could even take the lead and be the first university in an American state with an LGBT department.

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The following universities in the U.S. have majors in LGBT studies (usually under gender/sexuality studies): Chicago, Brown, Ohio State, San Diego State, Otterbein Universities with LGBT minors: Ohio State, San Francisco State, Stanford, Berkeley, UC Riverside, Cornell, SUNY, Allegheny, Western Washington, Minnesota, Kent State, North Carolina-Chapel Hill, North Texas, Delaware, Nebraska-Lincoln, Syracuse, California at Santa Barbara, Kansas, Houston, UC-Davis, DePaul, New Hampshire, Michigan, Oregon, Illinois-Urbana-Champaign, Washington State, Miami (Ohio), Vermont, Louisville, San Diego State, Otterbein, American, Appalachian State, Kansas State Universities offering LGBT certificates or concentrations: Arizona State, Iowa, Yale, Denison, Duke, Wisconsin-Madison, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Maryland, Colorado at Boulder, Northern Illinois Universities offering advanced LGBT degrees or qualification: San Francisco State (master’s in human sexuality studies, Yale (graduate qualification in lesbian and gay studies), Indiana (doctorate in gender studies), University of Kansas (doctorate in women, gender and sexuality studies) The City College of San Francisco has the only LGBT studies department in the U.S. Other universities have LGBT or queer studies in women’s studies departments.

No universities have such a department explicitly for LGBT/queer studies in the United States of America. UH Manoa could totally step up and be the first. The rainbow should not be limited to sports teams’ names at UH.

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Being gay is an “important part of my identity, but it’s not the sum of me.

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When Sufficient Is Not Enough By :

mickey weems |

Doctor Puakea Nogelmeier at the University of Hawai‘i Hawaiian Language Department is queer in so many ways.

He was born in San Francisco, the queerest place in the world after Fire Island and raised in Minnesota. Nogelmeier left the mainland at 18 to go to Japan via Hawaiʻi, but lost his wallet in the San Diego airport. “I was supposed to be here [in Hawai‘i] for the weekend, but I had to wait for a new ID, which took months. By then there was no rush. I got to Japan 25 years later.”

Being stranded in Hawai‘i led to a lifelong love affair with the Hawaiian language. Initially, however, he needed a swift and loving kick in the pants to get him into higher education. In the 1970s, he was working at the Hale o Ulu charter school when “a fellow teacher repeatedly encouraged me to go to college, saying ‘You’re too smart for your own good. You must either be in college or you’ll be in jail.’”

A string of degrees followed: A Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology, a Bachelor of Arts in Hawaiian Language, a Master of Arts in Pacific Islands Studies, and a Doctorate in Anthropology. His dedication to Hawaiian language inspired him to learn from kupuna who had kept the language alive, and he developed a degree of sophistication in speaking Hawaiian that made him a valuable asset to the Hawaiian community.

Easier to Be Queer Elsewhere Being closeted was not an option he seriously

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considered as an adult, and life in Hawai‘i made it that much easier. “It’s a social reality, here and everywhere, that it’s easier to maintain an openly gay identity once freed of the strictures of family and social circle,” he observed. “One can free oneself at home, but it’s harder. It’s more apparent in Hawaiʻi’s gay community because the cultural difference makes outside folk who are largely from the mainland more noticeable.”

That is one reason, he believes, that the face of the LGBT community so often has not been a local one: “An abundance of the publicly gay individuals are transplants. They have a level of freedom of engagement that is not as readily available, whether real or perceived, as do local LGBT folks. They won’t run into their auntie or teacher in Longs after doing a TV interview or participating in a march.”

Hated For the Wrong Reasons Puakea Nogelmeier found a place for himself at the University of Hawai‘i Manoa, an institution that welcomed him for his language skills and scholarship. “For the most part, those who have had issues with me being gay have kept it to themselves or discussed it elsewhere, but I’ve never been confronted or derided for being gay. Of course the university is probably one of the most liberal institutes in the Hawaiian archipelago.”

But his orientation was not the queerest thing about him with regards to his subject of expertise: He was a mainlander from Minnesota.

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Some people thought that Hawaiian language was best taught by Hawaiians, not outsiders. “At one point, I was rebuked for teaching Hawaiian when I’m not Hawaiian, and then told I shouldn’t take it personally. I responded with, ‘I’m accustomed to being hated for the wrong reasons – I grew up gay.’” Although his orientation was never a problem with his employment at the University of Hawai‘i Manoa, his frank statement of his sexuality created a bit of scandal at that point in time – such things simply were not discussed out loud.

Striking the Balance He does not want to be reduced to an orientation, neither does he want to erase his orientation from his presentation of self. “Being gay is an important part of my identity, but it’s not the sum of me, so I don’t present myself as gay, I present myself as me. But I resent ever being expected to avoid acknowledging my gayness as part of that package.”

So many other things come forth in a conversation with him – sense of humor, insatiable quest for knowledge, and a deep concern for his fellow human beings. “It [orientation] comes up as a topic when it’s pertinent and I’m very clear about it, but aside from those settings, my gayness, which includes so many aspects of my personality, is just part of the daily interaction. Few people are unaware that I’m gay, but it isn’t always an important topic.

Rather, it gets woven through most topics and interactions.”

Discourse of Sufficiency One topic that concerns Nogelmeier has to do with the abundance of Hawaiian language sources that remain untouched. When the Hawaiian people learned to read and write, they did it in a big way. By the 1860s, over 90% of the Hawaiian population was literate, much higher than the percentage of literate people in the U.S. at the time. The Kingdom of Hawai‘i was one of the most literate nations on the planet.

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Along with literacy came Hawaiian language newspapers or nupepa. Over a million lettersized pages worth of nupepa exist (125,000 actual pages of newspaper print), but only a fraction of them have been used or translated.

For years, scholars have depended on four Hawaiian scholars: John Papa ‘I‘i, David Malo, Kepelino and Samuel Manaiakalani Kamakau as the authoritative sources for all things Hawaiian from precontact to the mid-1800s.

But many more Hawaiians had been contributing information from the past in the nupepa, so there exists this treasure trove of alternative sources to the four Hawaiian scholars that has yet to impact Hawaiian scholarship as much as it should.

To this very day, the four Hawaiian scholars are too often deemed good enough.

Nogelmeier calls this bottleneck of scholarship “the discourse of sufficiency,” that what we have from the four Hawaiian scholars is sufficient as is. “The discourse of sufficiency was coined to describe how a tiny fraction of the Hawaiian language material was considered enough, and the rest was left unexplored and unincorporated.”

In order to widen the bottleneck so more information can flow, Nogelmeier is dedicated to training scholars in Hawaiian language so that they have the skills to understand the nuances of Hawaiian, not just in the literal translations, but also concerning the kaona or hidden meanings that are nested with texts. He has collaborated with the University of Hawai‘i to create the Institute of Hawaiian Language Research and Translation so that the knowledge he accumulated from kupuna decades ago lives on and even grows stronger.

Too many of the best language teachers are reaching retirement age, and the new generation must have the tools necessary to continue the Hawaiian Renaissance that began in the 1980s. “The Institute will train students and faculty to locate and translate information from the Hawaiian language repository while providing access and material for all fields of study, and for Hawaiian language revitalization.”

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Queer Curriculum at UH: Why It Is Worth Pursuing When asked if the “discourse of sufficiency” is found in the modest number of LGBT courses offered at the University of Hawai‘i, Nogelmeier said that indeed it is. “That same construct could be applied to LGBT studies, where a small collection of popular knowledge and reference sources is deemed sufficient, while far more information and analysis could be possible.”

Would a stronger emphasis on queer/sexuality studies be beneficial to the Hawaiian language department and to the University of Hawai‘i in general? “Such an emphasis would develop venues for new scholarship, study and analysis, as well as assembly and dissemination of knowledge about the historical and changing present of LGBT existence, here and abroad.”

Teaching While Gay Puakea Nogelmeier feels that his openness about his orientation is not just something that helps him alone: “Being an openly gay professor made it easier for LGBT students.”

Students look up to professors, and when they see one that they can identify with, it helps. “Presence of others can be self-affirming for individual students, especially the presence of professional models – teachers and staff. I think some students have flourished in a class where the obviously gay instructor was successful – at teaching while gay – where my gayness was there, but wasn’t the focus of the setting, even if it flavored the setting somewhat.”

Nogelmeier cares for all of his students, but he recognizes that he can help his LGBT students just by being himself. “I’ve always tried to be accessible for LGBT students who wanted counsel or to just talk. While presence might also have an effect on faculty, that’s more nuanced than the impact on students.”

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Cocoa Chandelier

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College Coursework is a

drag (show) By :

mickey weems |

So you, who think you can drag.

In case you don’t, there is somebody at the University of Hawai‘i who teaches a course on it.

Cocoa Chandelier, sophisticated mahu, LGBT activist and icon in the Hawai‘i LGBT community, has taken the art even further – she has turned it into a college course at an accredited university, the first of its kind that not only examines the history of drag, but requires students to experience the tradition themselves as drag performers. Those who take her course must be ready to paint their faces, put a sock (or any other appropriate object) in their pants or a bra on, and hit the stage with all the fierceness they can muster.

Chandelier is multi-talented: she is a stylist, MC, drag performer, choreographer, costume designer, director and artist-in-residence at Leeward Community College. She has two degrees from the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa, one in theatre and the other in dance.

Her role in the LGBT community includes being an advocate for people with HIV/AIDS. Currently she is working on a master’s degree in performance studies, then she plans to earn her doctorate in the same field.

Professor Chandelier The master’s degree she is working on currently is a stepping stone to a bigger goal:

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“Eventually I’d like to pursue a Ph.D. in performance studies on drag performance.” Her course on drag happened as a consequence in her pursuit of her master’s degree. “This class was initially created out of a need to fulfill an independent studies at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa in my program. Together with my professors Dr. Kara Miller and Dance Director Gregg Lizenbery, the course was born.”

Teaching drag means that she also teaches the history of cross-dressing across cultures.

“My experience teaching this particular course is actually a lot of hard work. There is such a rich history in drag and performance. I try to include a variety of drag genres, history, archival footage, guest speakers, and really looking at it from a cultural perspective within the theatrical setting. This is mainly because of my work within the theatre and dance departments.”

When she created her class on drag, there were certain things she was required to do as an instructor. “Because it’s within an academic structure, I had to put together a syllabus – a syllabus on drag performance!”

In doing so, Chandelier wanted to make sure the course was authentic and Hawai‘i-based.

“It was just a matter of creating a syllabus that was both unique and specific to my cultural background and geographic location,” she said. “By this, I mean using my understanding and practice as a mahu, looking at my peers,

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close friends, and family from their own personal experiences, not just about drag, but growing up in Hawai‘i and identifying as mahu.”

Her class, “The Art of Drag Performance,” is a one-credit, performance-based course.

“It is not writing intensive, but there is lots of hands-on work,” she said. Students are expected to perform in drag twice for a lip-sync solo and a choreographed group number. “The biggest cost for my course is outfits and makeup,” which is why there is little they must pay for anything else in terms of class fees. Chandelier will sometimes help students out with clothing, and she advises them to thrift-shop. “If students show up on show days and do their best, I’ll give them a decent grade.”

Drag as a New World of Self-Discovery Although Chandelier gives her students the basics of drag performance, she allows them plenty of room for self-expression. “I try to let them find out on their own and let them decide what motivates them. They have to have that experience on their own, and it usually comes very quickly in the semester. I think when they hear the many different stories that our guest speakers share with the class, they become more open and inspired. It’s the stories from all walks of life that help the students find their inspiration.”

Guest speakers include some of the most renowned drag queens in Hawai‘i so that students hear for themselves about the art from experts.

And students are not the only ones who learn: “I hope to accomplish a better understanding for my own craft as a drag artist and performer, and really see what people are interested in when it comes to drag. If I can get these students onstage in front of people in these personas they created, I feel like my work is done. But it does not stop

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there. This is just a small stepping stone into a much bigger world filled with glitter, lipstick, fake mustaches, wigs, costumes, bulges or disappearing genitalia, lip synching, dancing, reading, and lots and lots of laughter.”

Learning LGBT History, Walking in Somebody Else’s Heels Chandelier teaches her students about drag heritage: The earliest mention of drag is from police raids of “Molly Houses” in 17th century England. (“Molly” was slang for “prostitute” or a male who acted feminine.) Drag comes up again in the early 20th century Manhattan with the Harlem drag balls – extravagant affairs for high society that featured males in extravagant outfits as well as same-sex couples dancing. And every student of LGBT history should know that a woman in men’s drag is credited with starting the Stonewall Uprising in 1969 that marked the beginning of the international gay liberation movement – a line of drag queens danced and taunted riot police during that same uprising.

Besides learning about the role of drag in LGBT history, students in her course have an excellent opportunity to learn empathy. “I get a lot of my fellow students that I have worked with or attend classes with at UH Manoa. Then we have those that are truly interested in drag from different perspectives, whether it be gender studies, social activism, or purely the craft of drag and performance.”

She has also had two law students – one was a drag king and the other a drag queen.

“These two were phenomenal. The class helped them have a better understanding of issues that face not just gays and lesbians, but also transgender, non-identifying, or gender fluid. This helped these law students put themselves into someone else’s heels and experience something of what it is like

cocoa

I just assume “everyone is gay until proven otherwise.

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to be transgender, a drag artist, gay, lesbian, or mahu.”

Chandelier on Queer Studies at the University of Hawai‘i At heart, Chandelier is a revolutionary, ready to subvert commonly held notions about sexuality and gender: “I just assume everyone is gay until proven otherwise.”

Chandelier reverses the general tendency for people to assume everyone is straight, and she means to do so in order to make UH Manoa and its affiliate campuses into truly safe spaces. She is quite aware that a lack of LGBT presence in terms of courses and programs can be harmful for LGBT students.

Chandelier feels that the University of Hawai‘i is a good place to work, and that the faculty she has worked with were not at all homophobic.

Nevertheless, the university could do more. When asked about furthering queer studies, she said, “I feel there are enough people in the university who are fluent in the subject matter. There just hasn’t been an opportunity.” In addition, there are challenges in getting new LGBT-oriented courses approved. “My department can’t create new courses. Even for this class, it falls under special topics, so it is not like a course that is part of the curriculum.” The one plus for her course is that there is always a need for performance courses.

“Students would get special topics credit and performance credit. If you are pursuing a master’s or a doctorate, you need a performance credit every semester.”

She sees the University of Hawai‘i as a perfect place for a queer studies program and supports the idea of an LGBT-focus certificate. “I think a greater LGBT focus at our university would be important just because of our geographical location and our own history. It’s ironic that the push for marriage equality began here. There are so many things that this place could offer. I think students would be excited about it.”

And such a program would be good for LGBT students who feel they might not have a place: “Once people start talking about LGBT identities, things open up.”

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Camaron Miyamoto of LGBT Student Services

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It’s About Time By :

mickey weems |

Fighting against oppression is a family tradition for Camaron Mikio Jimenez Miyamoto. His Japanese, Mexican and Filipino kinfolk lived in concentration camps, were involved in uprisings in Chiapas, Mexico, and even proclaimed independence for their island in the Philippines from both the U.S. and Spain during the Spanish American War. But Miyamoto was not always concerned with the struggle. “I am from Los Angeles, born and raised,” he said. “There was a particular time in college when I was overwhelmed with the injustice in the world – all I wanted to do after class was go out to dance and party. But one night, the bouncers at a club in Hollywood greeted a bunch of us with racial profiling and statements like, ‘There’s enough of your kind in there.’ That night, I made a decision to commit to change.”

Camaron Miyamoto carried that commitment with him when he moved to Hawai‘i in 1994 to attend the University of Hawai‘i Manoa. In 1999, he was the gay liberation coordinator for a Quaker organization, the American Friends Service Committee. “Our staff sought to connect and work across issues to address economic justice, demilitarization, gay liberation, and Hawaiian sovereignty.” In 2002, Miyamoto became the official spokesperson for LGBT students at the University of Hawai‘i Manoa.

His office for LGBT Student Services (LGBTSS) is on the second floor of the Queen

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Lili‘uokalani Building. The office is tucked within the University of Hawai‘i Women’s Center, which is not what Miyamoto sees as an ideal situation: “From the outset, I have envisioned LGBT student services as its own office with staff to coordinate training, provide support for the student body, and reach out to departments.” And LGBTSS could use more space. When Miyamoto started, there was a core of about eight students who participated in weekly drop-in groups. “The group has grown up to 40. We need to reserve conference rooms in our building for our weekly drop-ins because we have outgrown the space within the women’s center.”

Enlarging LGBT student services and staff is just for starters. There are several things Miyamoto wants to change at UH Manoa.

Gender-Neutral Bathrooms One project he has been working on is gender-neutral bathrooms throughout campus: “These are restrooms that people of any gender can use – often they are labeled as ‘family’ restrooms and are single-stall locking.”

Miyamoto has heard from several transgender students early in their transitioning who do not yet feel comfortable in gender marked restrooms. “They have specifically asked for gender-neutral restrooms to be increased, listed, and available on campus maps.”

Miyamoto found an abundance of restrooms

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studies is “ LGBT one of the

interdisciplinary fields that sharpens critical thought.

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that could fill the bill. “There are 53 restrooms identified as gender-neutral on campus plans, but only three have signage. None of them are identified on UH maps.” There is little point to having gender-neutral bathrooms if people do not know where they are: “I have been advocating for proper signage on restrooms. After resolutions from both the undergraduate and graduate student governments, we finally have confirmation that we have 10 signs installed by the end of the academic year.”

In addition to creating a web of accessible bathrooms throughout campus, Miyamoto wants future buildings to have gender-neutral bathrooms as a matter of course. “I am still pushing for a policy that all new construction and major renovation projects with sex-segregated space will have gender-neutral options built into them.”

But he stresses the purpose of such bathrooms is not for special privilege: “The existence of gender-neutral restrooms in no way indicates that these are the only restrooms that our transgender students use. All people should be allowed access to the multi-stall restroom that corresponds to their gender identity.”

Queer and TransAffirming Campus For Miyamoto, it is important that students be aware from the moment they walk on campus that the University of Hawai‘i is an LGBT-friendly place. “I want to increase outreach in housing at the beginning of each semester and through new student orientation. We have a great gender-inclusive housing residential learning community in the dorms that can be expanded to LGBT housing for students who seek to live in a queer and trans-affirming community. This will be similar to the existing Native Hawaiian or Japanese language learning communities.”

Even in 2016, there is still the need to say out loud that queer students should be treated as equals, and that they should not fear for their personal safety. “Safe zone training can be expanded on campus to reach more faculty and staff. I have been advocating for safe zone trainings to occur throughout the year in academic units and colleges – not just in student affairs and administrative offices,” said Miyamoto. “I EXPRESSIO N808.COM - j a n 2016 | 21

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want to ensure that all of our faculty understand their responsibility to uphold our policy of nondiscrimination.”

the opportunity to focus on topics that are vitally important to them. Students have expressed interest. Faculty are available to teach.”

Miyamoto also wants to see more efforts at LGBT community building. “Our faculty and staff who are LGBT need more opportunities to interact with each other to build a sense of community. At minimum, I want to see a quarterly pau hana and dinners at LGBT-owned establishments.” Community building includes those of us who once attended UH: “I think it is time that we have an LGBT Alumni Association for the UH System. This is one way that our larger community can have an effective impact. Who knows?

Maybe we can establish a Rainbow alumni section for sporting events! This will be a creative way to address the historical homophobia in our department of athletics that has more than once made national headlines.”

And he likes to think big. “Maybe students can introduce and pass a resolution calling for the establishment of an LGBT studies department.

From there, funding and institutional interest is usually the next thing to address. To do so, I imagine the voices and collective action of our larger community will be needed. Let’s see if we can work together to make this all come to pass!”

LGBT Studies When asked about the possibility of implementing an LGBT curriculum at UH Manoa, Miyamoto had some suggestions: “I would like to see an LGBT studies major at UH Manoa. It will dovetail perfectly with educational programs coordinated through the LGBT residential learning community in the dorms and the expanded LGBT Student Services office.”

Camaron Miyamoto has seen for himself the desire for some kind of LGBT curriculum on the part of LGBT students: “A few years ago, the system-wide UH Commission on LGBT issues hosted speaker Kevin Kumashiro from the Institute for Anti-Oppressive Education to conduct a series of talks and workshops with students. The number one key finding was that students wanted an LGBT studies major.”

Miyamoto sees no reason why more cannot be done in terms of an LGBT certificate, minor, major or more. “For many, this is the first time they have had the chance to study what they want, to learn more about themselves and society. LGBT studies is one of the interdisciplinary fields that sharpens critical thought, and gives students

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UH Manoa in 2016 When asked about the prospects for the new year, Miyamoto sees positive and negative possibilities: “It’s really a mixed bag. Depending on who you are and what access you have to resources on and off campus, these can be the best of times or the worst of times. I am excited to meet more and more students from our Hawai‘i schools coming to UH Manoa looking for the GSA (Gay Straight Alliance) or LGBT support or advocacy. We are working with a database of over 2,000 students. At the same time, too many faculty or students move here and suddenly feel like they are the only queer in their college.”

Miyamoto does not believe there is any antagonism against LGBT people from UH Manoa’s administration. Nevertheless, much more could and should be done. “I think the measure of success is not in good intentions, thoughts, policy, or simply our existence. It requires action – and often well thought out and coordinated action.”

Visibility, both in terms of open appreciation of LGBT students in a campus that declares itself a safe space in its entirety, and in recognition of an official curriculum of queer studies as an important field of research, is crucial. “LGBT student services should not be the underground railroad to safety and graduation for LGBT students. We need intentional and thoughtful action across our campuses to impact change in every classroom and every office. Each of us can’t do it alone.

Now is the time for us to connect and organize.”

susan

ustice, Violence, and J

LGBT Studies By :

mickey weems |

photo :

Ian Hippensteele

At first glance, Susan Hippensteele’s office is what one would expect for a college professor – books are everywhere.

She has a view that looks down upon a green athletic field and green trees.

On one wall is the classic Women’s International Peace and Freedom poster with a large hand-drawn flower and these words: “war is not healthy for children and other living things” (all lower case). Less obvious than the poster is a police baton hanging not far from reach.

Hippensteele has dedicated her life to social justice. In the calm of her office, she spoke with me about the pursuit of justice for the most vulnerable on the UH Manoa campus, the commitment of the women’s studies department to LGBT issues, and what could be done for LGBT scholarship in the near future.

Advocacy, Orientation, and Self-Protection Hippensteele teaches at the University

of Hawai‘i Department of Women’s Studies. Women’s studies is a department that offers courses devoted to exploring issues of gender and sexuality, and Hippensteele teaches courses with LGBT themes.

Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, Hippensteele was stationed in Hawai‘i while in the U.S. Navy. She graduated from Chaminade University and earned three degrees from UH Manoa: a Master of Arts in Community Psychology, a Doctoral in Psychology, and a Juris Doctor degree.

Hippensteele was hired as UH Manoa’s first victim’s advocate in 1992, a position she held until 2000. “I handled more than 900 complaints of sex discrimination, sexual harassment, race discrimination, sexual orientation discrimination, and I conducted the first large scale study of campus ethno violence at UH,”

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she said. Most of the cases were settled without much fanfare, but there were some high profile cases that made Hippensteele visible in ways she would not have been otherwise. She was in a relationship with another woman, and her work as a victim’s advocate put her personal life before the public eye. “My high visibility on campus may have contributed to hostility directed at me because of my sexual orientation. I did experience some verbal harassment, and on one occasion I was physically attacked in my office in front of my two small children.”

Hence the police baton in her office – just in case.

The Conservative Nature of UH Manoa Hawai‘i has a reputation for being politically liberal. At the same time, there is a certain reserve in dress and behavior in our multicultural mix. Our pride parades, for example, do not have the same degree of sexual openness that one finds in large cities on the mainland. Hippensteele pointed out that reserve: “Hawai‘i is conservative in ways similar to small towns. People generally keep to themselves and guard their privacy.”

Those same conservative ways hold true for UH Manoa. “University campuses have to be understood contextually,” said Hippensteele.

The social rules that inspire people to call cosmopolitan Honolulu “Town” also inform campus life.

LGBT locals are cheek and jowl with people who might know their families. “Unlike many

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parts of the U.S. where LGBT people can relocate fairly easily to urban environments, local LGBT must move thousands of miles away if they need to relocate in order to safely come out. As a result, many remain in Hawai‘i and limit their visibility as LGBT to preserve family relationships.”

But Hippensteele has seen significant change during her 30 years at UH Manoa: “National and international attitudes have changed dramatically in recent years. Young people who are heavily exposed to contemporary media seem much more accepting of difference overall than have past generations.

I see this reflected in student discussions and willingness to be out, both in and out of class.” She also sees students rejecting that conservatism when it comes to their orientation and gender identities: “In recent years there have been increased levels of frustration over pressure to remain closeted.”

Homophobia in UH Sports One area where LGBT appreciation and inclusion has lagged behind is the sports culture at UH Manoa. The website for the athletic department is unlike any other in the UH system – it is geared for fans rather than students, reflecting the role of athletics as a form of community entertainment. There appears to be no sports or athletics studies where issues of gender and sexuality in sports could be explored. I found nothing on the website concerning LGBT issues.

No doubt the athletic department has guidelines against homophobia and transphobia.

But the lack of LGBT-supportive language on

susan

“

No curricular changes will occur without expressed student interest and a needs assessment.

”

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the public website may be contributing to a discreet culture of intolerance. Hippensteele said that many LGBT athletes are still not comfortable coming out, which means that LGBT coaching and support staff are likely not comfortable as well.

“This problem is not reserved for male athletes only,” she said. “Female athletes can face homophobia as well as misogyny here at UH.” Sometimes misogyny and homophobia are served on the same plate, as male athletes attempt to gay-shame female athletes into getting intimate, by accusing them of being lesbian if they refuse a sexual overture or a request for a date.

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The importance of what the University of Hawai‘i can do in terms of educating people on gender and sexuality cannot be underestimated. Inclusion of LGBT issues in universities is changing the face of the world. The more people learn about us, the less they buy into the us-against-them nonsense that fuels the oppression of women, interreligious violence, and straight-boy macho posturing by countries that leads to war. But too many people still need enemies to justify their existence, so they consider women in control of their own bodies, out-and-proud LGBT, or the latest flavor of the month (Mexicans, blacks, Muslims, Planned Parenthood et cetera) as threats to civilization.

Susan Hippensteele believes more can be done regarding queer studies at UH: “It would be great if LGBT issues were openly incorporated across disciplines and throughout all campus activities. We’re not there yet, and unfortunately, it’s not clear what can be done to speed things up, given current UH administrative culture.”

Just watch the debates between presidential candidates – the need for LGBT/queer stud-

susan

ies is obvious. But is a greater queer academic presence possible at UH Manoa in 2016? What would it take to generate a curriculum for LGBT studies in the form of a certificate, minor, major, master’s, doctorate or even an LGBT studies department? “It would be relatively easy to propose a certificate program in LGBT or queer studies, especially at the undergraduate level, because a significant number of such courses are already taught through various departments at UH Manoa,” said Hippensteele.

Further action is not as easily achieved: “Full degrees are a different matter since they typically require additional resources, and UH has been reallocating money away from academic programming in recent years.” A crucial factor for any change is student involvement.

Hippensteele suggests that “either way, be it certificate or full degree, no curricular changes will occur without expressed student interest and a needs assessment.”

Women’s Studies and LGBT/Queer Studies

edge, students have not lobbied for an LGBT degree.”

But change is in the air for the University of Hawai‘i Department of Women’s Studies. A look at their catalog shows an abundance of courses on gender and sexuality, which in turn brings in the academic offspring of women’s studies departments: men’s studies and queer studies.

These three areas of scholarship are mutually supportive and interrelated, especially with the fascinating work being done on trans identities, orientation, the body, presentation of self, violence, agency, desire, and justice – issues that scholars such as Hippensteele and her women’s studies colleagues have helped bring to the fore.

Hippensteele is not alone in witnessing the hostility that some people have towards women when women assert themselves, especially women in the LGBT community. The best cure for such hostility is education, and education must include legitimization of LGBT/queer studies in academia.

On the bright side, a look at the UH Manoa catalog shows that LGBT subject matter has been incorporated into the regular curriculum of several departments under the heading of “gender” and “sexuality.” This is especially true for women’s studies, which means that the department could become a home for queer studies: “We probably offer the most LGBT and queer theory related courses at this point. As we complete our transition to a gender-focus curriculum, a change in department title to something that includes gender and/or sexuality studies is a logical next step.”

This is good news in terms of advancing the academic legitimacy of LGBT Studies. The degree to which the program will include a visible queer studies facet is not yet fixed: “Whether our transition includes formalizing our LGBT focus remains to be determined.” Once again, so much depends on the willingness of students to push for change: “To the best of my knowl-

EXPRESSIO N808.COM - j a n 2016 | 27

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a brisk pace while walking the neighborhood.

Exercise and Nutrition for Happy Eggs and Sperm and make provisions.

During any holiday season, stress increases. This can be an especially difficult time to undergo infertility treatment. Not only is there added stress as you juggle family, friends, parties, gifting, working, and tight budgets, but add in the addition of frequent visits to the doctor’s office if you are trying to time inseminations, or coordinate an in vitro cycle using surrogates and donor egg.

I always recommend having a network of supportive friends, family, and contact names for some professional caregivers such as psychological support personnel, masseuse or acupuncturist if fertility treatment will be pursued. A short five to 10-minute pause in the day for simple breathing meditation can help.

For those requiring fertility medications to increase the chances by making more eggs (ovulation induction) these medications can have associated hormonal changes, which can also add to stress. The fertility treatment schedule can be somewhat inflexible.

Many times transvaginal ultrasound exams and blood testing are required, which can be time-sensitive. It is imperative to recognize these factors when assessing whether to do fertility treatment around the holidays. It is important that health care providers and patients be aware of the added stress

EXERCISE: Exercise does not require a gym membership or going to structured classes. One can dance in the kitchen while cooking – hopefully somewhat healthy! Try to take stairs in the mall while shopping for gifts instead of taking escalators. Also by parking in the last row of the shopping center, one can save time and expend a few more calories. It even saves one from the aggravation of going around in circles and the risks associated with those pulling a bit too fast in and out of stalls. Take time out to walk the city with visiting guests, or just keep

NUTRITION: One of the keys to eating healthy is portion control. Just take a smaller piece of pie and skip the whip cream. Pan out the buffet or potluck before you start scooping. Remember a vegetable serving and cut out the bread, especially if the desert selection looks good. Holiday spirits can be tricky; cut out all unnecessary sodas and stick with lower calorie spirits like white wine or vodka. Mixed drinks can add to calorie counts, especially the fruity ones. Pick plain soda water or diet tonic water with a splash of a fruit juice if needed. The sneaking of a cigarette with drinks can become more frequent during the holidays, and this added toxin is not welcomed for good egg development. Hydrating with lots of water or simple decaffeinated teas is welcomed.

Avoiding fast foods and eating while driving. Remember certain supplements like zinc, selenium and lycophene for sperm function, and ubiquinol for the powerhouse of the cell (mitochondria), which has been shown to improve eggs.

SLEEP: One should cut out time in the day to organize the activities that “need” to get done and make sure to not overlook sleep. Managing stress, exercise, healthy nutrition and sleep are central to the concept of wellness, especially in times of holiday bustle. Finally, have a safe New Year and don’t forget that smiles and laughter are antidotes to stress.

Dr. Celia Dominguez is recognized as an expert in the field of reproductive medicine, in vitro fertilization and laparoendoscopic surgery.

She is double-board certified in obstetrics and gynecology, reproductive endocrinology and infertility, and is a physician at Pacific In Vitro Fertilization Institute. For more information, call: 808-946-2226 EXPRESSIO N808.COM - j a n 2016 | 29

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