This path was created by Anastacia Negron.
Finding Refuge: Inside and Outside of Lafayette’s Bubble
Introduction
At a college where queerness has historically been looked down upon, students in the LGBTQ+ community have struggled to feel at home. With admitting women in 1970, Lafayette slowly started adjusting to the activist nature of the general college population, but ultimately still upheld heteronormative ideals. At that time, the campus was not safe for women, let alone queer students and faculty. Throughout the years, the queer community at Lafayette has morphed not only in terms of safety, but in terms of having their own places on campus. There are now more spaces on campus where students can find openly queer groups. However, there continues to be a need for places of refuge both inside and outside of the Lafayette community.While there may not have been a strong queer community at Lafayette in the past, queer people have existed since the start of the college. Historically, Lafayette has overwhelmingly had a culture of Greek Life and Athletics, setting a hypermasculine tone for the college. Queer individuals have often had to navigate these heteronormative and homophobic spaces without support from their peers. However, some Queer individuals have nonetheless found refuge in these hostile environments due to their athletic ability or need to find community. Queer people exist in all spaces, not just ones that are explicitly queer. Due to the lack of official queer spaces, unofficial spaces existed where queer people could go to and be themselves without judgment from the outside. The Arts have historically been a place where queer people are able to openly express themselves without repercussions and that isn’t any different at Lafayette. In addition, McKelvy House is a unique living place where many scholars have found a sense of community. Sometimes, students have also ventured outside of the Lafayette community to find others to relate to, date, or feel seen. While Lafayette may have been extremely homophobic at times, that doesn't mean the rest of the world was.
In this essay, I will be exploring places of refuge both inside and outside of the bubble that we call Lafayette College. More specifically, I will be looking at what makes “hostile” environments unsafe for students, and how individuals can still find community within those spaces. In addition, I will be looking at the flaws within those unofficial “safe” queer spaces and how they may be exclusionary to other marginalized groups. Lastly, I will be exploring life outside Lafayette College, looking at how queer students have found community off campus.