Filling in the Gaps of Forgotten History – The Denver North Star
By Jules Nock, Regis University student There we were, in November 2022, standing in solidarity together for LGBTQ+ rights while marching around st... The article discusses the history of Regis University's queer community at a Jesuit Catholic University, a student at the school where the Queer Student Alliance, and supportive queer peers and staff have been a part of the community. The author points out that many Jesuit schools are not as accepting of their queer communities and suppress many voices and experiences in order to align with their religious values. The article suggests that religious institutions, particularly religious ones, often ban queer relationships or clubs while not protecting their students from instances of homophobia or harassment. The project was led by the library archivist to capture the history and lived experiences of queer students, faculty, and alumni. This article urges the use of institutional archives as a resource for queer students and staff to feel seen and supported by their university's history, while also seeing themselves in past representations.
Опубликовано : 11 месяцев назад от The Denver North Star Staff в
There we were, in November 2022, standing in solidarity together for LGBTQ+ rights while marching around statues of saints and priests on campus. The Archdiocese of Denver had recently posted their homophobic and problematic stance on queer students in elementary schools, and my institution, Regis University, decided to host a march against their stance while standing in solidarity with queer students and staff members. This moment has always stuck with me as a time when my school stood with the queer community and took a stance against harmful religious teachings. This instance, along with others from recent years, will hopefully go down in my school’s history.
As a student at a Jesuit Catholic University, the queer community has always been a part of my time here through our Queer Student Alliance, events they put on like the yearly student drag show, and through supportive queer peers and staff.
The history of my school’s queer community, however, had never been talked about much. The LGBTQ+ community on campus had been a great resource for me and how I met many of my friends, but I never knew about how the QSA, for example, had been started or about events that took place on campus before I attended. I am so grateful to be at a school where the queer community is generally welcomed, but I had always been interested in learning more about the roots of the community on campus and about other powerful past events that took place.
Many Jesuit schools are not as accepting of their queer communities and therefore suppress many voices and experiences in order to be perceived as aligning with their religious values. This is a real issue that actively hurts the identities and experiences of community for several students. Many religious institutions go so far as to ban queer relationships or clubs while not protecting their students from instances of homophobia or harassment. This not only robs students of self-discovery and community, but it also impacts students’ mental health, putting them at danger of their peers and, unfortunately, themselves.
In order to begin to address this issue of forgotten queer history, I began working on a project with my school’s library archivist to capture the history and lived experiences of queer students, faculty and alumni. This has been an effort recently pushed by the archivist as they realized that there were gaps in their history that they wanted to work to restore accurately. This experience has opened up my eyes to the importance of underrepresented student experiences in archives and the importance of filling in the historical gaps of previously missed experiences. By addressing these gaps, the school is actively showing their support for such important history that will assist future students and how they feel represented by their university.
More institutions, especially religious ones, need to take this same approach in closing the gaps of underrepresented student and staff voices. Not only to show their support, but also to maintain accurate and relevant history of their school. If the history is not accurately recorded, it is at risk of being lost forever. If students are unable to see themselves in their institution’s history, they are also at risk for feeling unsupported and unrecognized. Queer history in institutional archives has the potential to be a resource for queer students and staff members to feel seen and supported by their university’s history, while also seeing themselves in past representations.
All institutional leaders, historians and archivists for universities, religious or not, should be investing time back into underrepresented student voices who may have been forgotten about or neglected in the past. By adding back into the history of your school’s students, you are doing a service for future generations to feel seen by their school and be able to better understand their community’s history on campus and may even get inspired to continue doing important documentation work themselves.