Even better, the panelists were very pointed about the fact that just talking gets us nowhere- 'dialogue' is all fine and good, but nothing much comes of just words. While much of bigotry and injustice stems from personal attitudes, which can be influenced by discussion, the real problem seems to be institutionalized bias within established systems- higher education, corporations, government, and so on.

While the conference, of course, talked about ways to change established structures within the context of racial prejudice (and, briefly, of gender and class biases), my thoughts turned to queer issues.

By this time in history, the great majority of Americans would agree that racism is bad, don't you think? Sure, there are the wacko KKK militia people in their bunkers in Montana, but for the most part, people generally think that racial prejudice is destructive, harmful, and totally ungrounded. While there is still a lot of work to be done in the area of race, particularly in institutions, there is not a great deal of opposition to doing that work.

In the queer world, things look much different. Homophobia is widespread, blatant, and, worst of all, accepted. Landlords in Alaska can reject gay people for housing if they claim their religion doesn't condone homosexuality- do you think the same people could get away with claiming that their religion doesn't condone, say, being black? Racial minorities can often fall back on their families and communities for support, while countless queer people can't even tell their families of their sexual orientation, let alone come to them for comfort and support. Countless religious dominations still preach bigotry against queers, job and housing protections still have yet to gain any sort of legislative support, the list goes on and on.

Even here at 'safe' Macalester, institutionalized and personal homophobia comes into play. Queer Union has no administrative support, faculty advisor, or ties to academic departments, thus, the only queer resource on campus is entirely student run. And who gains more from this? Certainly we get money from student government, but most of our funding is supplied expressly for the purpose of throwing QU dances- essentially, parties for the entire student body. The college, on the other hand, can claim they support queer students and also use our group to further the illusion of diversity that they babble on about in glossy admissions catalogs.

Even among the students, support is scant- even the other cultural organizations, the groups with which we have the most goals and ideals in common, don't align themselves with QU. While most of the members of the Dismantling Racism Group (DRG) are not members of racial minorities, would you care to guess how many straight people belong to QU? Not very many, I assure you.

I know, I'm sounding rather like a fiery piss ant at present. I guess I have a few bones to pick, and I've had enough of a break from the issue to come back this semester with full energy. I may be cynical, but I still am enough of an idealist to think that I may actually be able to accomplish some positive change...

Listening to: Villa Lobos, String Quartets