When Will African American Trans People Be Able To Tell Our Stories On HBCU Campuses?

One of the things I and other transsisters enjoy doing is telling the story of African descended trans people to college students around the nation.

Since only one side of the story has been told for the last 50 plus years, it is a joy to pass along our knowledge to students, administrators, and instructors eager to learn more about transgender issues from our unique chocolate flavored vantage point.

But while we African descended trans people deeply appreciate the opportunities that we get to do so, one thing that bothers us is the fact that we are primarily holding these discussions at predominately white institutions.

I've been doing these trans oriented panel discussions for collegiate groups for more than a decade, and I have yet to do one on a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) campus.

The histories of HBCU institutions are deeply linked with the history of our people. Some of our best and brightest minds and historical figures have graduated from HBCU campuses. Ground breaking research benefiting all Americans has happened on campuses such as Tuskegee University.

But one area HBCU's are sorely lacking in is understanding what's up with African descended GLBT people. The transphobic and homophobic incidents that have occurred on various HBCU campuses in the last two decades point out the pressing need to dispel some misconceptions about who and what we are. Some of my African descended peeps could definitely use the face time with transpeople to dispel the faith based lies they're being fed about us as well.

Not being able to or being extended the invitation to do trans presentations on HBCU campuses is wounding on another level as well. We have seen our white brothers and sisters get routinely invited in the same time period to do these collegiate discussions, and it hurts when we see there aren't similar efforts taking place at HBCU's.

That bothers me and other proud African descended trans people. We get the perception that we are being unfairly rejected by our people. But we know having the gender issues dialogue is too important to let slide and we aren't giving up.

HBCU's are currently educating our next generation of business leaders, doctors, lawyers, teachers, social workers and yes, politicians. Students at HBCU's need to be exposed to our lives as well, especially in light of the fact that many of my people are willfully ignorant about trans issues.

But the point we will continue to make is that we did not give up our Black Like Me cards when we transitioned. Some of us graduated from HBCU campuses and we have much to offer the African descended community in terms of our talents and expertise. If HBCU's such as Howard can bring people such as Black conservative and RNC chair Michael Steele to their campuses to speak, what's stopping them from doing the same with African descended transpeople?

For us to have forward momentum as African descended trans people, we must begin breaking down that wall of ignorance in our community. HBCU's will play a key role in making that happen. African descended trans people are more than willing to do our part by candidly speaking about our lives.

But you have to meet us halfway so we can start that dialogue.

HBCUs Have A Responsibility To LGBT Students

HBCUs Have A Responsibility To LGBT Students
Campus Silence Is Read As Lack Of Support

By Eric Pritchard
May 17, 2007, 09:00 AM
From diverseeducation.com

The article, “At Conservative Black Colleges, Gays Struggle to Find Their
Voice,” that recently ran on DiverseEducation.com hit home for me like no other news story in recent memory. In 2002, I graduated from a historically Black college. A first-generation college student, I was a celebrated student-leader who was well-respected by the administration, faculty and my peers on campus. Still, being Black, gay, proud, but fearfully silent, my college experience was not all that different from the experiences of the lesbian and gay students referenced in the story.

It was never said but implicitly understood that being gay was not going to win me any allies or let me keep any. There weren’t any student support services made explicitly available to lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender students on campus. And, I imagine that even if I could convince other LGBT students to create a student organization with me, I might have been met with the same resistance experienced by the students quoted in the article.

The Black community’s contentious relationship with gender and sexuality is not a new phenomenon, yet I believe there is a depth to the situation that should be further explored. For example, to evaluate the relevance of an LGBT student organization the same way one might a drill team or fashion club is outrageous. The LGBT identity of these students is not a hobby, but represents a part of their lives and directly impacts their ability to succeed academically. What I think is truly problematic is the fact that students are being forced to develop their own means of support in the first place. The development and sustainment of an affirming and safe space for LGBT students is an institution’s responsibility. It is absurd for HBCUs to demand that a student demonstrate academic excellence when administrators are unwilling to create a space where academic success and development are even possible. Simply letting LGBT students organize their own groups seems like a toothless solution to the emotional and physical terrorism of homophobia and transphobia that they may endure on any given day.

I am not so naïve as to believe that my appeals to the humanity of others to react humanely toward students will be seen as anything more than idealistic. To that end, I want to appeal to the dollars and sense of administrators, for if they don’t care about people, they must certainly care about their own pocketbooks. Every time they have a situation where they do not take a stand against hatred and bigotry, they create a silent declaration that hate and bigotry are tolerable. In the case of the HBCUs, silence is read as a publicly adamant lack of support for the LGBT students on their campuses. This contributes to a culture of hate that will ultimately result in someone being hurt or killed. Many HBCUs are already under-resourced and struggling financially. Therefore, it would be prudent to avoid lawsuits by taking the necessary steps to change the culture of the campuses toward LGBT students.

One could try to excuse some of the lack of support by pointing to the minimal financial resources HBCUs have in comparison with their predominately White counterparts. However, that argument cannot hold when the Human Rights Campaign’s HBCU outreach program is not taken full advantage of by those institutions. While I applaud the efforts and successes of HRC’s program, I would encourage anyone invested in the success of LGBT students of color to be equally mindful of their experiences at traditionally White institutions. There, these students often experience race- and class-based oppression in their LGBT support services and campus centers.

LGBT students at HBCUs give me hope as an HBCU alumnus. The growth in visible LGBT communities on these campuses, when coupled with the organized agitation of the trustees, administration, alumni and fellow students, could help change the tide in some way. Also, I encourage all HBCU alumni, administration and faculty who identify as LGBT persons or allies to promote courageous conversations about gender and sexuality at their institutions, for this is necessary to facilitate change. As Black lesbian feminist poet Audre Lorde reminds us, we are not separated by our differences, but by our silence.

Eric Pritchard is a doctoral candidate in the English, Composition and Rhetoric Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.