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Queer Archives Project

Photo of Daniel Reynolds at the Drag Ball

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Outside the Bubble The term bubble, which is commonly used to describe Lafayette, describes a space that is protected from outside influences. For many students, Lafayette can be a bubble if they let it. If you don’t want to explore elsewhere, you can spend your entire four years at Lafayette without venturing into the rest of the city. Finding safety and community in this bubble is a privilege that many people fail to acknowledge.

For many of us, however, the bubble is suffocating. College Hill can be extremely isolated from the rest of Easton, especially without access to a car, ultimately restricting those who are lower-income. Lafayette prides itself on its proximity to NYC and Philadelphia. However, there are many opportunities to socialize within the greater Easton community. Established in 1969, the Lehigh Valley Association of Independent Colleges (LVAIC), consists of six colleges all within the region, ultimately expanding the number of opportunities available for students in the area. Not only does this open academic opportunities, but social opportunities as well for those who are financially able to step outside of campus.

Struggling to find a community of gay men on campus, Peter Theodore ‘97 decided to look elsewhere romantically. When asked about how he met romantic partners, he said, “I used to always say that Lafayette was great for my development as a gay activist but not so great for my development as [00:46:00] a gay man, romantically or sexually, because there really wasn’t -- I didn’t date very much.” As a result, Theodore made connections through a friend who would take him to New York and introduce him to her friends who were gay. Theodore was also able to meet a student from Muhlenberg through a Safe Zone Workshop held by FLAGB, who he ended up dating. While the schools in the area were all pretty conservative, Theodore describes the environment of Muhlenberg as a bit more progressive than Lafayette. Searching outside of the Lafayette bubble opened Theodore to opportunities that weren’t openly available for LGBTQ+ students on campus.

Others engaged with the greater Lafayette community in order to gain resources or just feel supported by other queer folk. Daniel Reynolds ‘08 started the Drag Ball in 2005 where he hired a drag queen from a gay bar he would go to in Allentown, PA. Despite the campus climate at Lafayette at the time, there were still spaces nearby that were more accepting and inclusive of LGBTQ+ people. On the other hand, Catherine Hanlon ‘79 decided to go into Easton her senior year to join a women’s consciousness-raising group, which ultimately developed into a gay women’s group. Joining in hopes of relating to other members, she found that she in fact did not have much in common with working class lesbians from Easton, pushing her to feel further isolated.