Bill McCoy fills a special role on campus as the full-time coordinator of LGBTQ community resources at a Catholic university. cCoy, who came to Georgetown last August, is enthusiastic about expanding outreach to the gay and lesbian community.
Since Chuck Van Sant left, you are the first full-time coordinator of LGBTQ community resources and Assistant Director of Student Programs. How long have Georgetown students been actively seeking someone to fill this sort of position?
Before I came David Vaughn was club sports, Chuck Van Sant was off-campus student life director, and he took on the LGBTQ position. The first real fight was in the eighties when they fought for their right to be a student organization on campus that got university resources. I don’t know how long the fight for this actual position has gone. In terms of other colleges or universities I don’t think it’s been quite a long time around, because these positions started in the mid-90’s. I doubt the fight for my position predated work in Student Affairs.
What issues facing the Georgetown gay and lesbian community today deserve the most attention?
I just think continued marginalization. There are many gay students who aren’t necessarily out. I just think that they don’t have a face here at Georgetown, a face they can associate themselves with. Invisibility and marginalization are two large problems.
When you came onboard at the beginning of the year, you said you wanted to expand outreach programs, such as procuring gay-oriented films, for the gay and lesbian community but also wanted more straight students participating in the programs. You also wanted to address the “pervasive hetero-centric attitude and environment on the Hilltop.” How far have you come in working for these goals, and what remains to be done?
There’s a lot that remains to be done. We’ve had a few films, and partnering with other organizations has been beneficial. We showed a movie during AIDS Awareness Week with the AIDS Coalition. We have also done a lot of work in the residence halls, doing Safezone training.
It seems not many students are aware of Safezones. Please explain what this is, and where Safezones are found on campus.
Safezones is an advocacy training program for straight students to go through, and queer students can go through it too. Looking for straight allies on campus, training consists of three different sections: an overview of what sort of terminology and sort of basic issues that face the LGBTQ community, we go into LGBTQ development, looking at what that process is like for gay and lesbian students with both personal development and coming out issues and we go into allied development, which is sort of a detailed process of what straight people can do to help those around them who are LGBTQ. Safezones are on campus, and there’s a postcard – an old postcard was in place before I came – I’ve since updated it . It is to designate a person who is trained and who knows those issues, giving LGBTQ students a place to go and talk openly and honestly about how they’re feeling.
How supportive has the administration been for this relatively new office? Does the university’s Catholic identity hinder in any way your program’s outreach efforts?
Overall the university has been relatively supportive. Even though we’re almost done with the year, it’s still my first year though. I’m still in the process of getting things off the ground. A lot has yet to be seen as to how the university reacts to the sort of initiatives that come out of me being here.
What inspired you to come to Georgetown?
I always love a challenge. I figured this would be a challenging position. It also kind of marries two interests, working with the LGBTQ population, and working in the arts and entertainment industry. The other half of my job is advising the Georgetown Program Board with Chuck Van Sant, and that brings two of my interests together in one position.
– Interview by Fred Lestina
