William McCoy, the newly-appointed assistant director of student organizations and LGBTQ community resources, will succeed Director of Off-Campus Life Chuck Van Sant, who has held the post on an interim basis since its creation last year after intense lobbying efforts by lesbian and gay campus organizations in 2002.
“I think my interactions with the variety of students I will be working with will be a method of bringing the LGBTQ community at Georgetown onto the radar of many students who may not have had considered this population,” McCoy said. “Everyone that I have had contact with has been very supportive of the work I am doing.”
As assistant director of both student organizations and lesbian and gay issues, McCoy, in effect, fills two jobs. His responsibilities range from advising various student groups on campus to procuring gay-themed films and organizing Safezones, a program designed to provide troubled or confused students with confidential and supportive advice.
The New York University-educated director says the situation, “while perhaps not ideal,” will give him the opportunity to reach out to more students about lesbian and gay issues.
“I think the two positions will lend me the ability to reach a larger population,” McCoy said. “I love programming events for the LGBTQ community, but it makes me even happier to see straight students attend my queer programs.”
McCoy said he also wants to combat “the pervasive hetero-centric attitude and environment” on the Hilltop.
“We live in a heterosexist culture and it is a fact of life. But in comparison with NYU, there is still a long way to go to raise awareness on this campus,” he said.
One student whom McCoy has spoken to told him that in several language courses that he has taken, a common assignment is to describe one’s perfect mate.
“For a queer student, they have to either answer honestly, then explain why their description is not in the opposite primary gender or lie and describe what the professor assumes should be their perfect mate,” McCoy said.
McCoy cautioned that such situations arise more from “a lack of awareness” than from actual discrimination.
“It is not always outright discrimination that is what is truly hurtful to the LGBTQ community,” he said. “The constant reminder that they are not the norm, and the constant devaluing of themselves that goes along with that, is hurtful in ways that most people can’t understand.”
GUSA Vice President and GU Pride member Luis Torres (COL ’05), who has worked with McCoy over the past few weeks, said he was very pleased with the new appointment.
“I think Bill McCoy is an excellent asset to the Georgetown community,” Torres said. “He is a caring, thoughtful, energetic and highly passionate individual who knows how to connect with the LGBTQ community on campus and is not afraid to advocate on their behalf.”
McCoy also denied claims that his relatively new office is incompatible with Georgetown’s Catholic and Jesuit identity.
“I feel that most religions, including Catholicism, have major themes about caring for all of humanity,” McCoy said. “It is my opinion that not enough emphasis is placed on this ideal, but rather on what the LGBTQ community engages in that does not match with catholic teachings.”
McCoy claimed that Georgetown’s ideal of educating “the whole person” is reflected in his office’s mission.
“I am here to help care for the whole person,” he said. “One’s sexual or gender identity is a large part of how we see ourselves and how the outside world sees us.”
