To the editor,

As you may have heard, bullying played a factor in the loss of yet another young teen. Jamie Hubley, a 15-year-old from Ottawa, Canada committed suicide on October 14. In his blog, called “You Can’t Break… When you’re already broken,” he talks about the struggles of being openly gay in high school and the bullying he has encountered. He talks about how people tell him “it gets easier” but he just thinks its “bullsh*t.” If only someone had heard his cries for help before it was too late he might still be here today.

There are many great programs offering support for struggling youths out there, but it’s clear that they are not known well enough and are too few and far between. I felt I had to do something before we lose another bright soul to suicide. I have started a website (A Place to Turn: www.facebook.com/SupportAgainstBullying) for people to go and share their stories, struggles, ideas, and words of wisdom with others and to also help promote other programs already out there. My hope is for the site to become a community of people helping each other. Also, I have a list of hotlines and support lines for easy access. If someone is feeling lost, alone and struggling to see the light, I want them to have a better chance of finding a place of hope. If you or anyone you know is struggling to find the light, please visit my website  and let us help you! Also if you would like to share your story or join me in this fight to stop bullying and support ALL of our youth, become a friend of my site! The most beautiful thing a person can do is be true to him or herself. Bullies make struggling youths just like Jamie Hubley feel that being their true self is not acceptable. Bullying is what is not acceptable.

In Jamie’s blog he posted:

“Remember me as a Unicorn :3 x) Maybe in my next life Il be a flying squirrel   Il fly away.”

Please, help spread the word and join the fight against bullying! Help youth find the light before we lose another unicorn.

Alyssa Janice Danielson

To the editor:

[In] October, Options presented its readers with a heretofore unknown word, exotify.   On page 18, Kim Stowell’s article declares, “Gay Asian men are often…exotified by the larger gay community.”   Huh?

That sent me to one, then two dictionaries, the latter, Merriam Webster’s Third New International Dictionary (1986), Unabridged.  Practically threw my back out lifting this big book.  But, I figured, if it’s a word it’s got to be here.  Well, no.

Google did turn up one article from an independent college newspaper penned by two sophomores which introduced to the entire English speaking world an original arrangement of letters, exotify.

Please ask Kim Stowell to provide definitions for any original words that [s]he may use.   Better yet, use ones that already exist.

Ron Marsh

[Editor’s Note: We had a lengthy discussion on the topic of this particular word. Noticing that it was a term none of us had ever heard, it gave us pause. We decided, however, that it is a word that should exist, as it perfectly described that which Mr. Lam was trying to communicate. Options appreciates your eagle eye, Mr. Marsh! Maybe you will join our editing team?]

Op-Ed

Winters Tale

Cynthia Glinnick

When I graduated from the University of Rhode Island in 1976 I don’t recall there being much discussion about diversity. And if there was, it certainly didn’t include gay people. The women’s movement was in full swing, and that took precedence over something as anathema as homosexuality. We did manage to find one another but it was informal and there were no support services on campus.

Fast forward twenty years to 1995 and you begin to see the inclusion of gay student organizations. The University had changed with the times, but scratch the surface and you would soon see that it was mostly lip service. This is what Andrew Winters discovered then as he strove to create a welcoming atmosphere for LGBT students attending URI.

After sixteen years Winters, well liked and respected by the students for being an outspoken advocate for LGBT concerns on the Kingston campus, was forced to leave his position. What happened in the intervening years appears to be nothing short of cloak and dagger.

Winters, an out gay man, was hired to work for Housing and Residential Life, a position similar to ones he had held at three other major universities. Four years into the job at URI, he identified the need for a place where openly gay students could meet, talk, exchange ideas and socialize. At the same time, a fraternity had been banned from the campus for violating alcohol regulations and its house was sitting vacant and unused. He lobbied the administration for the use of the house as a safe place for gay students to gather and he won. Not coincidentally, Winters was assaulted on campus by a group of young men who identified themselves as URI students and “get out fags” was painted across the front of the defunct fraternity house. He held a vigil in front of the house, protesting this behavior, and about a year later the Rainbow Diversity House was established.

In the meantime, Winters left his position in student housing and was appointed Director of LGBT Programs and Services, reporting directly to the Vice President. He brought guest lecturers to conferences and symposiums, provided trainings for Resident Assistants, took the students to other universities for related events, and facilitated open discussion groups three nights a week in a dedicated space in Adams Hall, often paying for refreshments and such out of his own pocket. “He got people like Barney Frank to come and speak for free,” revealed Winters’ partner Don Smith, “He received accolades from the University for his work, was the recipient of the annual Diversity Award and was even nominated Employee of the Year.”

While all of this was going on, Winters was getting incident reports of on-going discrimination, harassment, verbal assaults and death threats toward gay students, which he brought to the attention of the Vice President of Student Affairs. The students, separately and unbeknownst to Andrew, brought the same concern to the Vice President. When they were met with a lack of sufficient interest, they occupied a twenty-four hour study room in the library last October to protest the harassment and discrimination of gay students on campus. They gathered 1400 signatures on a petition and demanded that the new president of the University meet with them, address their concerns and make real changes at the University. Many faculty members wrote letters to the URI President and the Board of Governors in support of Winters.

A month later, The Chronicle, a prestigious publication for higher education, wrote an article focused on URI and Winters’ work. Ironically, this was the point where things began to really unravel for him.

Winters began to feel under attack, both professionally and personally. He had to report when he came and went and justify his comings and goings.  He was told that if he didn’t like the new rules, he could look into early retirement. Fed up with how he was being treated, he filed a discrimination claim against the University, hired a lawyer and took a leave of absence.

For a man who challenged the status quo and championed the LGBT cause on a campus that once had the reputation of being the most homophobic in the country (per The Advocate), who steadfastly gave of himself for students who were being harassed and assaulted, who fought for those same students to have a safe place to gather, Andrew Winters’ legacy has come to an abrupt and ignominious end.

Editor’s Note: The writer could not get anyone from URI to comment.