Going Public

Friday, October 11, 1996

UCLA students and faculty declare their sexuality on ‘The
Outlist’

during National Coming Out WeekBy Adrienne Martinez

Daily Bruin Contributor

Rainbow stickers for your car, rainbow buttons for your
backpack: the various ways UCLA students have preferred to display
a lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) lifestyle have
sometimes been temporary and removable.

But by introducing "The Outlist" three years ago, UCLA student
Matt Pearson gave LGBT students and faculty the opportunity to
disprove the notion that homosexuality is a sort of temporary
confusion.

"The Outlist" is a list of LGBT students and faculty on campus.
It is published annually in the news section of the Daily Bruin
during National Coming Out Week, amid coming-out festivities and
gay-pride events.

Serving as a way for gay students and faculty to express their
pride in themselves and their sexuality, "The Outlist" enables
students who have not come to terms with their sexuality to seek
support and resources on campus.

Pearson, a graduate student in the linguistics department, first
envisioned "The Outlist" in 1993. Since then, its publication has
been met with both skepticism and praise.

"I see ‘The Outlist’ as my first step in publically coming out,"
said Tamara Tokat, a second-year women’s studies student. "It
forced me to be bold and honest with myself."

However, some students feel that the list may discriminate
against heterosexuals.

"If they want to play the dating game, then (heterosexuals)
should also have a list to meet people." said A.C. Schilleci, a
second-year student at Cal State Northridge and member of UCLA Army
ROTC.

Following its first publication at UCLA, variations of "The
Outlist" were adopted by universities all over the country,
including UC Irvine and UC Berkeley.

However, its accessibility has been questioned. Pearson, who
also organizes the list, is on sabbatical in Canada this year, and
as a result, the 1996 list will be the shortest ever. Some students
and faculty have expressed regret that they weren’t informed in
time to be included.

"Had there been more publicity, I would have signed up," said
Donna Roessler, a history extension student working towards her
doctorate.

She was not alone, according to Charles Outcalt, director of the
LGBT Resource Center, who said four faculty members approached him
after the deadline and requested to be included.

"There are a lot more LGBT students and faculty on campus than
you’ll find on the list," said Darnell Grisby, a second-year
undeclared student and co-chair of the Gay and Lesbian
Association.

"It’s still quite early-on in the year and generally people want
to be known well by their friends before they are ready to come out
publicly," he said.

"The Outlist" was designed to also help those LGBT students
declining to be on the list.

"It’s a wonderful way for members of the community to show
support and solidarity," said Bryon Williams, a second-year math
student and editor of TenPercent, the LGBT newsmagazine at
UCLA.

"It gives those who haven’t come out resources and a source of
comfort. The list sends the message: ‘People on this list obviously
respect themselves enough to be out in the open ­ if they can
be out in the open, so can I,’" he said.

The average number of students and staff on the list has
typically been 170 or fewer each year, according to Outcalt.

This number is nowhere near the purported 10 percent of campus
identified as LGBT, and various theories, including the lack of
publicity, have been proposed to account for this.

"The largest problem we face with the list is getting it
publicized. It is hard for people to find out about it," said
Outcalt. "So we don’t get the same number of people signing up who
would probably like to."

Outcalt, when questioned, admitted that in three years he knew
of no retaliatory actions taken against students or faculty who had
put their names on the list. Yet, the fear of reactions to publicly
declaring a different sexuality influenced one student against
signing-up.

"I debated a long time about being on the list, but I realized
that it would give the professor I work for another reason to treat
me poorly," said one student, who requested anonymity. "I feel that
being on the list would place my academic career at risk."

The student declared that she would eventually be on the list
when she felt it wouldn’t threaten her academic well-being.

AMY PENGSCOTT O/Daily BruinSCOTT O/Daily Bruin

Above: Two supporters of the National Coming Out Week rally held
in Westwood Plaza on Tuesday stand hand-in-hand.

Top Left: Third-year linguistics major Geneva Sapp cheers on the
coming-out rally.

Bottom Left: Mark Bertet (l) gives his friend a hug at the
rally.