It's "National Coming Out Week", and Boston College is very prepared

Dawn Eden, who works at the Cardinal Newman Society as director of their Love & Responsibility program, notified me about this story (she's flying off to Dublin today and beginning a speaking tour that will also take her to London).

The focus of Dawn's work at CNS involves programs of campus outreach geared to promote Catholic teachings on "sexual ethics, human life, marriage, love, and personal responsibility."

Sadly, there are significant forces at work against this noble project. A case in point?

Boston College's Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgender Leadership Council is organizing and hosting events campus-wide as part of "National Coming Out Week" as the independent BCHeights reports.

Planned activities include:

• Tuesday night features a panel discussion lead by five professors and staff titled "How to be straight." Perez said, "This event really deals with how to get the community involved. People often support GLBT issues but don't know how to fit it into their day-to-day lives. We want to emphasize how to provide support to the GLBT community even though they might not identify themselves as GLBT."
• An open-mic discussion called "Opening Boston's Closets" takes place on Wednesday at 6 p.m. in the Chocolate Bar, with students expressing themselves through discussions and performances about issues of sexuality.
• "Guess who's gay," a game-show-themed event aimed at breaking down stereotypes, will take place Thursday at 7 p.m. in Gasson 305. Students will ask non-sexuality-based questions to a panel of participants to try to discern their sexuality.
• The week concludes with a fashion show titled "I feel pretty," to be held in the Cabaret Room at 7 p.m., at which models will each wear an outfit they feel uncomfortable in and one in which they feel like themselves. (Kandrach is also planning on participating in the fashion show as a model. "I'll probably wear the typical BC attire of cargo pants and a polo shirt for my outfit representing the closeted me," he said. "For my other outfit, I'm wearing a crazy rainbow shirt and white denim pants. I do dress flamboyantly normally, but I don't care - that's one of the great aspects of gay men. They just do what they want.")

With a events like this being promoted and hosted throughout BC, it's not hard to see why the services of organizations like the Cardinal Newman Society are so desparately needed.

Here is Boston College's resource page for LGBT Students & Alumni.

From Boston College's "Jesuit, Catholic Tradition: Encountering the World" page:

Boston College is committed to maintaining and strengthening the Jesuit, Catholic mission of the University, and especially its commitment to integrating intellectual, personal, ethical, and religious formation; and to uniting high academic achievement with service to others.

... keep this in mind as you formulate your questions for this week's "Guess Who's Gay" gameshow!

(For a bit more context, blogged in May of last year, it should be remembered that BC is the same university that managed to get 100 of its faculty members to sign a protest letter - originating from its theology department - upon the occasion of Condoleezza Rice's invitation as a commencement speaker, because, the letter claimed, her activity in the Iraq War supposedly conflicted with Catholic and Jesuit principles. If this isn't a clear example of selective concern with Church teaching and Jesuit tradition then I don't know what is.)