hronicle
Features B7
chronicle.hw.com
exceptions xceptions
son’s/chronicle
olitically correct stlake... It would if we were in cepting and us are. I like the f you are not warm, you are litically correct nother human g this or that.” —Luba Bek
“I think the use of homophobic terms stems from a social fear. It’s a subconscious attack on that demographic to prove that you’re not like that.” —Greg Comanor ’10
Nathanson’s/chronicle
An anonymous note jars the community on a campus that seems like a safe place to be different.
campus provides comfort zone By Allegra Tepper
O
and
Jean Park
ne by one, couples arrived for the typical pre-prom ritual. Like twosomes off the ark, the pairs lined up for Kodak moments while parents cooed as their children took part in this most valued rite of passage. Among the seniors fastening corsages and boutonnieres were Eli Petzold ’10 and Simon Hunegs ’10, who have been an openly gay couple for the last six months. I didn’t really think twice about attending prom with my boyfriend,” Hunegs said. “It just felt normal.” Same sex couples attending prom together isn’t generally considered the social norm. In March, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against a Mississippi high school that cancelled their prom rather than allow a Lesbian student attend with her girlfriend in a tuxedo. But for Hunegs and Petzold, prom was never a matter of dressing in drag, stirring controversy or making a statement on behalf of homosexuals everywhere. “We made jokes about wearing pink but really it was no statement at all,” Petzold said. “This was just me, wanting to share this night with my boyfriend.” Hunegs, Petzold, and several other openly gay students said that Harvard-Westlake has provided a safe environment for their sexuality, and they’ve rarely felt uncomfortable with their sexuality. Joe Girton ’10 said the number of gay and lesbian students who are open about their sexuality at school has spiked in recent years. Some attribute the growth to Project 10, a club dedicated to creating a supportive atmosphere for students to talk about their sexuality. “Being among peers going through the exact same thing at the exact same time meant more than anything,” Girton said. “When I first came out, the meetings were more serious, and we’d talk about talking to our parents. As it progressed and more and more people came out, it became more of a club than a support group, and now we just talk about cute guys. I can now name 15 gay students off the top of my head.” One anonymous student agreed that P10 has strayed from its original purpose, becoming more of a “gossip mill,” watch Youtube videos about gay people, and a forum to flaunt sexualI didn’t really ity rather than work through it. think twice “The club went to the West Hollywood Halloween Parade together,” he said. “It became this place where people were pracabout tically shouting, ‘I’m here and I’m queer.’ When you do that, attending prom you put out this image that is so polarizing, and it turns people off and makes the whole thing distasteful. It makes me underwith my stand why people would have a problem with gay people. I don’t boyfriend. It need a rainbow boa to feel comfortable with my sexuality.” While some students choose to come out in P10, others use just felt normal” the English department’s junior year personal essay assign—Simon Hunegs ‘10 ment to explore their sexuality more deeply. English teacher Martha Wheelock was approached by a student a few years ago who expressed confusion about his sexuality and thought the essay would prove a good outlet. Describing herself as a “sounding board,” Wheelock helped her student practice expressing his own thoughts about his sexuality before he finally talked to his family and close friends about it. “A personal essay is where a student can sort out their life and thoughts,” says Wheelock. “The purpose is to assess a moment of awareness in your life, about how to look at yourself, how not to be silent.” Luba Bek, the sponsor of P10, came out to the student body in a 1994 issue of the Chronicle. Her letter to the editor titled “Russian teacher ‘comes out’ to school community,” discussed the pride she could finally take in being a Lesbian upon her naturalization as an American citizen. One student said that he even felt comfortable including his sexuality in his online identity. “I was redoing my Facebook profile last week, and upon reaching the category ‘Interested in,’ I realized there was no reason to hide it,” he said. “I’m comfortable with who I am. It doesn’t define me; it’s just a single aspect of my character.” Last year, Kevin Jennings, who founded the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, spoke during a school assembly about his goal to keep schools a place of respect, regardless of sexual orientation. Clips of his speech are now shown in the sophomore Choices and Challenges classes. Chief Advancement Officer Ed Hu, who is also open about his sexual preference, and Bek speak to classes as well. Some students believe that the open community fostered on campus has made it an even more comfortable environment than their homes. One student said that his family treats their sexuality like something that belongs in the news, like the stories on Proposition 8, while their school friends are supportive without forcing a constant discourse. “My parents are starting to realize that it’s no different than a straight relationship,” Petzold said. “But at school, it was a regular relationship from the start. I don’t think sexuality is even that big a deal. That’s why I didn’t come out to my parents until I was in that relationship. They knew, and I felt stupid saying I’m gay.” And so, Hunegs and Petzold plan to continue going on dates for Ethiopian food, sharing their favorite music and books and doing the things common of a “typical, high school relationship.”
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graphics by Ingrid Chang and Mary Rose fissinger