UCLA hosts LGBT studies conference

An array of speakers from around the country convened in Royce Hall over the weekend to share their research into gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues as part of the Los Angeles Queer Studies Conference.

The conference was hosted by UCLA’s department of LGBT studies. The Williams Institute, a think tank dedicated to critical thought in the field of sexual orientation and public policy and based at the UCLA School of Law, , co-hosted the event.

The conference was held for both faculty and graduate students from across the nation to share their current LGBT studies, discussing related topics ranging from art and literature to discrimination.

Friday’s keynote speaker, Janet Jakobsen, director of the Barnard Center for Research on Women, said LGBT students often encounter discrimination on campuses nationwide.

“Many campuses still face issues around how (LGBT) students are treated. (Problems) seem to still crop up pretty frequently,” Jakobsen said.

Though UCLA was recently placed near the top in The Advocate College Guide for LGBT Students list of “gay-friendly” universities, there have been incidences of crimes against the LGBT community.

Two years ago there was a string of hate crimes directed towards the UCLA LGBT Center culminating in the arrest of a former UCLA student.

Rebecca Stotzer of the Williams Institute presented her research on “Spaces between Places: Hate Crimes Based on Sexual Orientation.” Stotzer said during her lecture that one of the obstacles in her study was the lack of official documentation of hate crimes. She said many perpetrators act in groups and display little understanding about differences in sexual orientation.

Jakobsen discussed how acknowledging a campus’s sexual culture could contribute to a more accepting environment.

“It’s about the way a whole culture is produced. Both students and institutions don’t acknowledge that there is a sexual culture on campus. As a result, alternative sexual cultures are ignored and diminished,” Jakobsen said.

“The first step is to acknowledge that non-LGBT also has a sexual culture.”

Justin Lavner, a doctoral student in clinical psychology, said there is conversation on only a limited number of LGBT topics.

“I’ve noticed that (LGBT conversations) are always focused on gay marriage and not on any of the other aspects in the (LGBT) community,” Lavner said.

Heather Collette-VanDeraa, a third-year women’s studies student, said that conversation between the LGBT and non-LGBT communities is limited.

“When you’re in the (LGBT) community ... one is always immersed in that dialogue,” Collette-VanDeraa said.

“But I don’t know that (LGBT topics are) an issue outside of the (LGBT) communities.”

Some of the other issues discussed during the lecture series were legally oriented.

The Williams Institute recently released a series of three studies examining the LGBT community and its effects on American culture and economics.

Holning Lau of the Williams Institute researched children’s rights in relation to LGBT studies. In his presentation, “Pluralism: A Principle for Children’s Rights,” Lau said that institutions should not impede on children’s rights to explore and express their identities.

“Socialization can be as innocuous as teaching children to raise their hand before they speak, but school socialization policies, state socialization policies, should not infringe upon what I call children’s identity interest, their ability to develop and express their identities,” Lau said during his presentation.