The Boston College student newspaper on Monday published the first of three stories in a series on homophobia at the Roman Catholic school in Chestnut Hill, Mass.
The Heights News Editor Matthew DeLuca's first story chronicles the struggle of several gay and lesbian students at BC. The students identify a "closeted" mentality on campus, saying that many gay, or potentially gay, students keep their personal lives—read: sexual orientation—secret out of fear of retribution.
"I think that we have a lot of joking around the stereotype of Boston's Closet—I think that these are realities," one student says. "BC has a culture that for some reason keeps a lot of the queer community in the closet."
According to the students interviewed for the story, male students are far more accepting of lesbians than they are of gay men. One student calls it a "frat-boy mentality." Nonetheless, the Heights report says that it's difficult to even stand up for GLBTQ rights on campus whether a student is straight or not.
One bisexual student, describing her boyfriend's leadership role in BC's GLBTQ Leadership Council, thinks her boyfriend "gets more flak not because of me but because of his own involvement."
We'll keep our eyes open for the next installments in the Heights.
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