Queer Life at Wesleyan

Wesleyan has a deeply held commitment to diversity. The issues pertaining to sexuality, sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression are an integral part of this commitment to education, communication, and understanding. Students, faculty, administrators, and staff strive to create a safe space for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning (LGBTQQ…) students at Wesleyan. Many queer faculty, staff, and administrators also make themselves available to serve as resources to LGBTQQ… students. LGBTQQ… students are vocal, active, organized, and respected members of the Wesleyan community. While some students choose to become involved in political and social organizations that exist on campus, there is no universal or typical way of being queer at Wesleyan.  

Many people in the Wesleyan community use the word “queer”, a non-gender specific and inclusive word, in place of other terms that do not fully encompass the variety of sexual and gender identities of our community members. While this term was used as an epithet against LGBTQQ… people in the past, many have sought to reclaim it and now use it with pride. There is, however, space at Wesleyan to self-identify with any words that best validate one’s identity.

Queer Academics
Student Groups
Queer Resource Center

Queer Academics
Feminist, Gender, & Sexuality Studies Program
Feminist, Gender, & Sexuality Studies is an interdisciplinary major that encourages students to explore and critique past and present cultural structures of power, focusing in particular on the social construction of gender as a category of analysis within the broader matrix of race, class, ethnicity, and sexual identity. Many courses listed in this area are relevant to queer studies, and many faculty who teach in this program are actively committed to supporting students who wish to explore queer academia.

Queer Studies Concentration, American Studies
The American Studies department offers a Queer Studies concentration within the major. Each semester, a variety of courses related to Queer Studies are offered by various departments. Some of these classes have included, Queer Theory, Queering the American State, and Nationalism and the Politics of Gender and Sexuality. In addition, Wesleyan offers students the opportunity to develop group tutorials to explore issues not offered in the currently scheduled courses. Examples of past tutorials include Queer People of Color, Lesbian Erotic Fiction Writing, and Queer Film Theory. The Gay, Lesbian, and Sexuality Studies Prize, donated by the Gay and Lesbian Alumni Association (GALA), is awarded annually to the undergraduate  who has done the best research and writing on a subject related to Queer Studies.

Student Groups
There are many student organizations related to queer issues and identities on campus. A few examples of organized groups include:

• SPECTRUM - a confidential social organization that provides a safe space to address the specific needs of queer students of color.

• Trans/Gender Group – a group of both trans and non-trans students involved in discussion and activism around gender/gender identity issues on and off campus.

• Wednesday Night Football – a weekly discussion for students questioning their sexuality or who just want to talk to other queer or questioning students.

• Queer Social Committee – a planning committee for queer social events on campus.

• April Planning Committee -  a planning committee for Asian/Asian American, Arab/Arab American and Queer Awareness Month. These communities have decided in recent years to come together to plan and celebrate this month of political, social, educational, and entertaining programs and events.

Queer life at Wesleyan is constantly evolving and there are many opportunities for students to get involved with shaping its structure. In addition, new student groups can be created at anytime and many events happen throughout the year outside of these groups’ activities. Community members find out about all of these and other opportunities on the listserv endlessacronym, named for the seemingly endless letters in LGBTQQFAGIPBDSM… Allies are welcome to join the list too.

To sign up, send an e-mail to lyris@lyris.wesleyan.edu with a blank subject line and “subscribe endlessacronym” in the body of the e-mail.

Queer Resource Center (QRC)
Located at 190 High Street, the QRC is a student-run office and meeting space with a library of books, magazines, safer-sex information, newsletters, and videos. The QRC Intern works with the Office of Student Activities and Leadership Development (SALD) to help maintain the QRC, plan programs such as the monthly Queer Community Meetings and the Queer Retreat, and to build bridges between the various student groups on campus. To contact the QRC Intern e-mail: qrc@wesleyan.edu.