An array of speakers from around the country convened in Royce
Hall over the weekend to share their research into gay, lesbian,
bisexual and transgender issues as part of the Los Angeles Queer
Studies Conference.
The conference was hosted by UCLA’s department of LGBT
studies. The Williams Institute, a think tank dedicated to critical
thought in the field of sexual orientation and public policy and
based at the UCLA School of Law, , co-hosted the event.
The conference was held for both faculty and graduate students
from across the nation to share their current LGBT studies,
discussing related topics ranging from art and literature to
discrimination.
Friday’s keynote speaker, Janet Jakobsen, director of the
Barnard Center for Research on Women, said LGBT students often
encounter discrimination on campuses nationwide.
“Many campuses still face issues around how (LGBT)
students are treated. (Problems) seem to still crop up pretty
frequently,” Jakobsen said.
Though UCLA was recently placed near the top in The Advocate
College Guide for LGBT Students list of “gay-friendly”
universities, there have been incidences of crimes against the LGBT
community.
Two years ago there was a string of hate crimes directed towards
the UCLA LGBT Center culminating in the arrest of a former UCLA
student.
Rebecca Stotzer of the Williams Institute presented her research
on “Spaces between Places: Hate Crimes Based on Sexual
Orientation.” Stotzer said during her lecture that one of the
obstacles in her study was the lack of official documentation of
hate crimes. She said many perpetrators act in groups and display
little understanding about differences in sexual orientation.
Jakobsen discussed how acknowledging a campus’s sexual
culture could contribute to a more accepting environment.
“It’s about the way a whole culture is produced.
Both students and institutions don’t acknowledge that there
is a sexual culture on campus. As a result, alternative sexual
cultures are ignored and diminished,” Jakobsen said.
“The first step is to acknowledge that non-LGBT also has a
sexual culture.”
Justin Lavner, a doctoral student in clinical psychology, said
there is conversation on only a limited number of LGBT topics.
“I’ve noticed that (LGBT conversations) are always
focused on gay marriage and not on any of the other aspects in the
(LGBT) community,” Lavner said.
Heather Collette-VanDeraa, a third-year women’s studies
student, said that conversation between the LGBT and non-LGBT
communities is limited.
“When you’re in the (LGBT) community … one is
always immersed in that dialogue,” Collette-VanDeraa
said.
“But I don’t know that (LGBT topics are) an issue
outside of the (LGBT) communities.”
Some of the other issues discussed during the lecture series
were legally oriented.
The Williams Institute recently released a series of three
studies examining the LGBT community and its effects on American
culture and economics.
Holning Lau of the Williams Institute researched
children’s rights in relation to LGBT studies. In his
presentation, “Pluralism: A Principle for Children’s
Rights,” Lau said that institutions should not impede on
children’s rights to explore and express their
identities.
“Socialization can be as innocuous as teaching children to
raise their hand before they speak, but school socialization
policies, state socialization policies, should not infringe upon
what I call children’s identity interest, their ability to
develop and express their identities,” Lau said during his
presentation.