Finding a Platform to Call Home
by Foster Collins III
I’m sorry, but I’m being asked to explain the entirety of my experience at Doane as a gay man? In 600 words or less? That’s like trying to see the forest for the trees and only getting to look at two trees. That’s like trying to play scrabble with only one tile for each letter. Sure you’ll get a few words in, but you won’t get the full experience.
The funny and sad part is that in a way, that’s kind of been my expeirence as a queer individual here at Doane. There have been so many times where I’ve been put on the spot, my queerness questioned or challenged, and I have less than 30 seconds to give a Who’s Line is it Anyway? quip back that is equal parts informative and friendly. I’m fortunate enough to say that I’ve never been the direct victim to a homophobic act, but there’s been some uncomfortable conversations. Like when a person I consider a friend says something like “I don’t have any problems with gay people, I just don’t agree with it.” and I have to decide if the ten minutes between class I spend at Lakeside is the time and place for me to get into a heated debate on what they mean by “don’t agree with it.”
If I had to put it in as few words as possible, my time here at Doane as a gay man has been, more or less, good. When I first arrived on campus I quickly found a community of allies with one or two fellow queers of various flavors. Sure my community didn’t look like the cast of Glee or RuPaul’s Drag Race, but I’d found a home of people who made the effort to love and accept me. I’ve had the pleasure of getting involved in one facet or another with the planning of 2 different Doane is Love Week celebrations. I had the opportunity to travel to Estes Park Colorado to attend the LGBTQIA+ Outdoor Adventure Summit, a conference for queer people working in the outdoor industry, made possible by Doane University’s Robert Conner and Wettergren Human & Civil Rights Endowed Fund. I’ve been given platform upon platform to share my story and who I am and what that means here at Doane. And yet through all that there are times where it doesn’t feel like it’s enough. There are times where the platform feels less like a platform and more like a police spotlight. There are times where it feels like I explain and explain and people still choose to not understand.
I don’t expect Doane to change before the rest of society does, and by and large the institution does the best that it can to make me feel welcomed as a queer man. The battle is in the hearts and minds of the students and culture of Doane, and looks to be going well for people like me. I have hope for the future that the Doane students of 2050 and beyond won’t have to face most of the challenges I have, and until that day comes I plan to keep fighting.
The blog posts in Forward. Together. are intended to foster an inclusive community of empathy and curiosity at Doane University by providing a glimpse into various individual identities and worldviews. These are community members’ unique stories and should not be presumed to be the experience of all who share the same identity.
