By Michelle Martinez, Asst. News Editor -

As a part of Black History Month, the United Front and the GLBTQ Leadership Council (GLC) organized a panel discussion titled “That’s Mad Gay, kNOw Homo” that addressed the issues of ignorance, hate and pain behind homophobic comments, both in American culture as well as within the Boston College community.

The event commenced with a presentation of several popular songs that make use of homophobic statements like “no homo” and “so gay.” The discussion then turned to the panel of five members, consisting of undergraduate students, a graduate student, and two openly homosexual faculty members. Khloe Scurry, CSOM ’12, began by saying how “interestingly the phrase ‘no homo’ has reduced homosexuals to their private parts and to the act of sex, and nothing else besides that.”

Most of the panelists commented on how the media is essentially defining and conditioning how the youth views the gay community by normalizing homophobic language. This is particularly true of hip-hop lyrics, an African-American dominated genre of music.“There is a tendency for the conservative right to bait African Americans into exhibiting their homophobia a little more aggressively,” Martin Summers, associate professor in the history department, said.

But as the other songs in the initial presentation proved, including Katy Perry’s “Ur So Gay,” this homophobia is certainly not limited to the African American community. “Though very real, [it] is not as disproportionate as it seems,” Summers said.

Will Charnley, LSOE ’11 and a member of FACES, recognized how “these types of lyrics in hip-hop are commonplace,” where given the hypermasculine image of the genre, “every time they say a word like dick they feel the need to say ‘no homo.’”

“Homophobia is widespread and very overt in Boston College. Calling things ‘mad gay’ and making overt comments to GLBTQ students in a malicious way that is not subconscious are unacceptable. There are changes we can make to Boston College in general, in the way we interact with and approach other people,” Charnley said.

The danger of these seemingly innocent statements is that it leads to sanctioning certain behaviors. “Language itself authorizes a behavior or action against a significant part of the community, making them feel like they are not worthy members,” Summers said, explaining that this language, might also lead to more drastic things, like gay bashing and domestic violence.

This consequently “enforces a code of silence, especially of people that are closeted or in the process of coming out,” said Sarah Hogan, second year Master’s Degree student in Sociology. “The threat of violence besides the risk of insults like the ones in song make people more nervous.”

When confronted with friends who employ this homophobic language, Ricco Siasoco, adjunct associate professor in the English department, recommends one “speak out against this language, in a non-confrontational way.”

As Summers said, “We need as large a campaign as that against the use of the N-word.” This, he believes, will help to educate people on the unacceptable nature of such derogatory language.

When one student in the audience raised the point of BC being ranked as one of the most homophobic universities in the nation, discussion was extended onto the students in the filled-to-capacity lecture hall. Many students expressed the lack of administrative support or commitment to conversation on GLBTQ-related issues. Some noted, nonetheless, that even though BC is ahead of some Catholic institutions such as Notre Dame since they at least have a non-discrimination policy, they are still far behind others such as Georgetown, which has an institutional dedication to homosexual issues.

Students and the panel members recognized, however, that in spite of the employment of harmful words like “no homo” and “that’s so gay” in our community, there is a conversation taking place on campus to address the matter, and all it needs is more support.

“It’s ultimately up to us, and our push can do a lot,” Summers said.