Spring Break
Counselor illuminates obstacles facing GLBTQ community
Travis Moore
Issue date: 4/2/09 Section: Focus
Activism can feel like a load of work in exchange for meager recognition - ideas that could change society by leaps and bounds often take years to gain mere inches in the public square. More effective and farther-reaching strategies for activists, however, are always emerging, and on Wednesday afternoon, UConn's own Dr. Barry A. Schreier, director of counseling and mental health services spoke to students in the Rainbow Center about some of his own.
In a series of psychological analyses and charming anecdotes, his lecture, "The House of Cards: Smart Social Advocacy for GLBTQ Community" illuminated some of the obstacles facing the GLBTQ community and outlined a different approach to making their voices heard.
Schreier, who grew up in a southern Baptist community, detailed the everyday struggle of being outspokenly gay in a "dualistic" (defined by Schreier as having a strong, binary perception of life and morality) neighborhood, recalling in particular one priest with whom he regularly clashed on the issue of gay rights. Years later, Schreier called up this priest and invited him to lunch, and the priest grudgingly accepted.
"Apparently, God likes lunch," he quipped.
After months of regular luncheon meetings together, the two reached a peculiar understanding of the other's beliefs while maintaining their own, and the insight Schreier gained proved invaluable to his cause.
Schreier stressed that converting those with strong anti-gay convictions - or the "face-down-in-the-swimming-pool-ers," Schreier jokingly called them - is less effective (and by extension, less important to the cause) than reaching the people who are undecided on the issue (the "at-the-zoo-ers").
"We can really get caught up in [those condemning the efforts of the LGBTQ community] and waste our time," he said. The undecided people, however, are potentially both easier to persuade and more plentiful, which makes them a key group for activists to reach.
In a series of psychological analyses and charming anecdotes, his lecture, "The House of Cards: Smart Social Advocacy for GLBTQ Community" illuminated some of the obstacles facing the GLBTQ community and outlined a different approach to making their voices heard.
Schreier, who grew up in a southern Baptist community, detailed the everyday struggle of being outspokenly gay in a "dualistic" (defined by Schreier as having a strong, binary perception of life and morality) neighborhood, recalling in particular one priest with whom he regularly clashed on the issue of gay rights. Years later, Schreier called up this priest and invited him to lunch, and the priest grudgingly accepted.
"Apparently, God likes lunch," he quipped.
After months of regular luncheon meetings together, the two reached a peculiar understanding of the other's beliefs while maintaining their own, and the insight Schreier gained proved invaluable to his cause.
Schreier stressed that converting those with strong anti-gay convictions - or the "face-down-in-the-swimming-pool-ers," Schreier jokingly called them - is less effective (and by extension, less important to the cause) than reaching the people who are undecided on the issue (the "at-the-zoo-ers").
"We can really get caught up in [those condemning the efforts of the LGBTQ community] and waste our time," he said. The undecided people, however, are potentially both easier to persuade and more plentiful, which makes them a key group for activists to reach.
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