Abstract
[Extract] There is little doubt that there are gay and lesbian students, faculty, staff, and administrators in our universities. You may not see all of us unless we want you to, but we are there. Whether you choose to acknowledge our presence is another issue. Historical prejudices against minority groups and those who are 'different' still exist in many parts of the world and in many of our universities. There are significant cultural, religious, national and regional differences in how minority 'tribes' or 'groups' are identified and treated. There is a significant body of research discussing issues of homosexuality and discrimination against homosexuals. A simple search of the World Wide Web (WWW) will lead any interested person to thousands of pages and sites that discuss the discrimination. The research discusses many different aspects of same sex attraction and same sex practices. However, many of those who are in charge of our tertiary institutions systematically ignore this body of research. Those of us who are 'gay activists' and human rights activists are constantly reminded of the systematic discrimination against gay men and lesbians in our societies. Some of us are more open about our sexuality than others. Many gay men and lesbians who are comfortable with their orientation still choose to remain 'in the closet' and hidden from their colleagues and others within the university.
Publication Details
This article was originally published as Collier, HW, Gay men and lesbians in the university community, Proceedings of the meeting of the Academy of International Business for the South East Asia Region (AIBSEAR), Jakarta, 4-6 July 2001.