The lights dimmed in room 310 of Boston College’s Higgins Hall, as the strains Lil Wayne’s “Lollipop” filled the room and as the lyrics to the song flashed across the black projector screen behind five seated panelists Thursday night who took on the use of homophobic terms in today’s culture and media.
The panel discussion, “That’s Mad Gay . . . kNOw Homo,” was put together by BC’s Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Queer Leadership Council along with the help of United Front, a caucus representing black students, in honor of Black History Month.
Vice President of United Front Najee Stephenson said the discussion tied together discrimination against blacks and homosexuals.
“For me, being from New York and coming from an African-American community, I understand how similar the n word is to words like gay and homo,” Stephenson said.
“Words have power,” said BC senior and GLC representative Chyna McRae.
After various other lyrics by artists such as Jay-Z and Katy Perry, all of which had phrases such as “No homo” and “You’re so gay” were displayed on a big screen at the front of the lecture hall, McRae turned to a more serious note.
“I know in the video, some of the content is funny, but it’s really kind of scary how some of this language is being used,” she said. “We are here to talk about how race and sexuality intersect in honor of Black History Month. They’re constantly compartmentalized.”
Panelist William Chamley, a junior at BC, said he feels it is a shame that pop and hip-hop music reinforce terms such as “no homo” and “that’s gay.” He said ultimately this was a product of American culture and stereotypical imaging in the media.
“It speaks to a larger issue that America as a whole is homophobic and wants the pop and media cultures to reinforce that image,” he said.
Chamley also said that the word gay in popular culture has come to mean something far beyond the original meaning.
“It’s troublesome to link the word gay to being stupid, lame or awful,” he said.
Associate professor of History and panelist Martin Summers, who is openly gay, researches on gender, race and sexuality. He said that associating the word gay with stupidity makes people feel that they’re not worthy members of the community.
“Language influences behavior against significant parts of the community,” he said.
Panelist Sarah Hogan, a graduate student, agreed and said “anti-gay language enforces a code of silence.”
BC sophomore and panelist Chloe Scurry said in her view that it was human nature to demoralize others.
“Maybe it’s just me, and I just have a very negative view of humanity, but I think it’s our nature to always want to put down minorities and that’s exactly what the phrase “no homo’ does,” Scurry said.
The panel agreed that education is key to combating stereotypes and getting rid of offensive language.
They also discussed the view that being gay is more common among white people.
Panelist Ricco Siasoco, a faculty member in the English department, said that people tend to think of homosexuality as a white phenomenon because in the media and popular culture there are more white gay people than other races.
“It’s a very white male culture,” he said. “Lesbians are the exception but it’s really white male dominated in the gay community.”
At the end of the event, junior Jeremiah Wang, a member of GLC, said he was pleased with the high attendance and enthusiasm of the audience.
“The audience itself hit every single issue on the head. So that was majorly impressive,” he said.
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