Welcome back to another week of Queeries! This week we’re talking about The Daily and the importance of queer voices. Being queer is a lifelong journey of breaking the boundaries that surround gender and sexuality, but being societal rule breakers is exhausting when it feels like your voice is not being heard. For us, the Daily has supported our voices and given us a space to not only banter with one another but also create an environment where we feel valued, included and empowered to succeed.
The Queeries column started off as a fun way to bond with friends, delve more into the queer pop culture we care about and learn more eccentric facts and hot gossip we previously didn’t know about. But as we’ve been writing this column, we have realized that we are reaching a larger audience than we had originally thought. Our thoughts and opinions, regardless of how quirky they may be, are resonating with others. The Daily not only gave us an opportunity to share our beliefs, but it also showed itself as a safe, uplifting space for members of the queer community.
Every community needs a space where they can uphold their rights and demands and share their stories with their society. LGBTQ+ press was initially born out of necessity. We needed activism, and we’re creating a renaissance of our own. It is only within the past decade that major news outlets started covering LGBTQ+ topics more regularly, and as a well-known, independent, student newspaper, the Daily has readily opened its arms to caring for this community.
Finding community within the arts section has allowed for queer perspective and voice. How many other times during one’s four years at Tufts do they have the opportunity to review and discuss art pieces created by queer artists that will reach an audience not only on Tufts’ campus but also to any online viewer or interested party? Historically, queer voices have been suppressed by university administrations across the U.S. with some college students even creating separate papers and news outlets catering to the queer community.
We are so incredibly grateful to write for a paper that values queer perspective and offers us and other students a platform to express ideas and discuss topics often underrepresented and underreported. The Daily wears many hats when it comes to what roles it serves in the greater community. One, it offers a space for informing students and community members about newsworthy events, and two, it allows for deeper thought and reflection on how the Tufts community benefits from different perspectives.
Roughly 50 years ago, university students were fighting for a gay voice, but today, spaces such as the Daily offer that outlet to uplift and amplify a multitude of queer perspectives.
