LGBT Center to celebrate 20th anniversary

The Tufts Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Center will celebrate its 20th anniversary at the Mayer Campus Center tomorrow with food, a formal program and a dance party.

The sold-out event will honor the Center’s history and progress since its founding in 1983, as well as celebrate the LGBT community on campus and connect generations of students involved with the LGBT Center, according to LGBT Center Director Tom Bourdon.

The LGBT Center most recently held a celebration for its 15th anniversary, but the 20th anniversary is a substantial milestone because 20 years is a very long time in the LGBT community, Max Tanguay-Colucci, an undergraduate intern at the Center, said.

“The 20th anniversary is particularly significant because Tufts has really been at the forefront of LGBT issues,” Tanguay-Colucci, a sophomore, said. “Twenty years is a big deal and that just shows how important these issues are to students at Tufts.”

Bourdon said that the LGBT community at Tufts is very strong, with eight to 12 percent of students identifying as non-heterosexual according to senior surveys.

To put the 20-year mark into perspective, Northeastern University’s LGBTQA Resource Center was founded within the past five years, according to Kris Polk, a student at Northeastern’s College Student Development and Counseling Program and intern at the Tufts LGBT Center.

The anniversary celebration will begin at 7 p.m. with hors d’oeuvres, followed by an oral history program at 7:30 p.m. and a dance party later on, Bourdon said. The oral history program will feature several speakers including former LGBT Center directors Dona Yarbrough and Heather Wishik and Massachusetts State Representative Carl Sciortino (LA ‘00), who is one of seven openly gay Commonwealth legislators.

“I think it’s going to be fascinating as well as very touching to hear about people’s experiences over such a long period of time in relation to LGBT identities and experiences on this campus,” Bourdon said. “It will be really nice to capture what’s different and what’s stayed the same, and I think it will really help inform us as to where we want to go in the future.”

The program will also feature an archival slide show that chronicles the history of the campus’ queer organizations prior to the establishment of the LGBT Center, according to Tanguay-Colucci.

Bourdon also revealed that an important announcement is going to be made at the event by a student who will discuss the news on a personal level.

“We have two announcements that are going to be made,” he said. “One might not be a surprise to people, but the other is a huge, extremely exciting LGBT-related announcement.”

Bourdon could not share much information regarding the announcement but stressed its significance and said it is related to the structure of the LGBT community.

Along with a raffle, the center will auction off the complete “Wicked” book series, autographed by author and Tufts alumnus Gregory Maguire (G ‘90), Bourdon said. The auction is the center’s first fundraising effort to raise money for a scholarship fund for LGBT students who find themselves in emergency situations.

“We’re hoping to create an emergency fund — which some schools now have — which is there to provide students with financial assistance if they find themselves in an emergency situation where they’ve been rejected or disowned by their families,” he explained. “Sometimes students will find themselves in a situation where they need some immediate cash on hand.”

Before the dance party there will be a showing by local performers who are involved in the LGBT community, according to Bourdon. A professional hula-hooper and a member of an all-female drag crew, called “All The Kings Men” (ATKM), are among the performers.

Bourdon also urged the community to recognize that not all LGBT students will be comfortable enough to attend such a public event.

“It’s important for people to realize that a lot of students who connect with the center aren’t necessarily comfortable publically acknowledging their connection,” he said. “We often work with students who are struggling with their gender and sexuality, so to show up at an event like this and show their support for the center is wonderful, but I also recognize that publically celebrating it isn’t comfortable for a lot of people. I just hope they still know we’re here for everyone on campus whether you feel comfortable coming to the event or not.”