Hopkins LGBT community publishes OUTlist

Hopkins officially launched the OUTlist, an online list of LGBT faculty, students and staff members at a launch party held on Tuesday, National Coming Out Day, at the Hopkins School of Medicine. The list was created to show school support for the Hopkins LGBT community.

Sarah Clever, the Assistant Dean of Student Affairs and an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the School of Medicine first heard about the OUTlist at a meeting for the American Association of Medical Colleges. She thought that it would be a great idea for Hopkins to have its own OUTlist. After gathering support from people in the Gertrude Stein Society, the LGBT group at the nursing, public health and medical schools, she broached the subject with Vice Provost for Institutional Equity Caroline Laguerre-Brown and Vice President for Human Resources Charlene Hayes.

"Both … were exceedingly supportive and felt that it would be a really important way of promoting diversity and creating a positive environment for LGBT students, faculty and staff," Clever said. "And, so, with their encouragement, I looked into [starting] a campus-wide project."

The list is currently online at web.jhu.edu/outlist, and links to the site will soon be put up on various Hopkins admissions, student affairs and human resources websites.

"Any of those people [looking at the list] would be able to see that Hopkins is in support of creating a community for LGBT individuals," Clever said.

In addition to offering support within departments and Hopkins as a whole, the OUTlist  will also be an opportunity for those applying to Hopkins to be assured that there is a strong LGBT community here and to learn what it's like to be out at the University, she continued.

While the administration generally supported the OUTlist, some did voice their concern that the list could be used in the wrong way. Clever, however, is hopeful that this will not happen.

"There have been members of the administration who have been a little bit concerned about it … ‘falling into the wrong hands,' that somebody with bad intentions might use the list to target people, and I think that's something to be concerned about," she said. "However, the people who are on the list, unfortunately, are experienced with being the target of discrimination, so it's not news to them."

Junior Mischa Lassow shared a similar concern before the launch party, as he was not exactly sure of what the implications of the list would be.

"I still have mixed feelings about a list of gay people," he said. "I don't know what good that does."

However, sophomore Diverse Sexuality and Gender Alliance (DSAGA) Events Coordinator Erika Rodriguez thought that the OUTlist sounded like a good idea because it allowed employees to be open with their sexuality at work.

"It's really cool that everyone's open to put it on a list, that they can be open at work and not have to take any precautions," she said.

Rodriguez noted that it is still legal in 29 states to fire someone for one's sexual orientation and in 35 states to get fired for one's gender identity.

"At Hopkins, you can't get fired [for your orientation]," she said.

DSAGA hosted many events for National Coming Out Day, such as having a rainbow "closet" on the Breezeway for students to walk through.

"Everyone's been really supportive; there haven't been any hateful comments. All of the faculty and students today have been very accepting," she said. "Last year, some people would avoid the closet, but now there are a ton of people participating and buying [our] T-shirts."

Though very few undergraduates were at Tuesday's launch party, it was very well attended by students, faculty and staff members from the School of Medicine and School of Public Health.  Hopkins President Ronald Daniels and Director of the Johns Hopkins Fogarty AIDS International Research Program Chris Beyrer were the keynote speakers at the event, followed by a performance from the Vocal Chords.

Daniels started off by talking about how he was unsure about the OUTlist at first, because of his memories of intolerance in the past. However, he thinks that the OUTlist is an important step for the school to take.

"The OUTlist will foster further dialogue among students, faculty and staff members," he said.

He also hopes that there will be no need for OUTlist in a few years, as LGBT members of the Hopkins community will not need to be distinguished from everyone else.

"I love [Daniels'] idea of the OUTlist being important now … but eventually [it will] have become obsolete, it just wouldn't matter," Clever said.

Beyrer spoke about how we are lucky to live in a free country, as opposed to countries where there are no LGBT rights.

"[You need to] use your freedom to advance the freedom of others," he said.

Beyrer, who is on the OUTlist, has traveled around the world for the School of Public Health, and has been to countries where the penalty for homosexuality is death, according to Clever.

"[Beyrer] is willing to take that risk [of being on the list]," Clever said. "Hopkins is a world class institution, and I think it really does send an important message, that if countries and institutions want to work with Hopkins, they need to understand that the LGBT community at Hopkins is a part of us just the way everyone else is."

Clever spoke briefly at the launch party to thank everyone for all of their help in creating the OUTlist. She told the attendees how happy she was with the reaction to the list.

"While the list does stand for tolerance and acceptance, this kind of response lets me say to you that the OUTlist represents an embrace," she said at the party. "It is saying from Hopkins to the [LGBT community] that you belong here, we want you here [and] we want your skills and talents."