Elizabethtown College has continued to make the effort to address multiple social issues across campus and the state of Pennsylvania, and LGBTQ+ social issues and policies are no exception.
October is LGBTQ+ History Month and to commemorate how far the community has come and how much work there still needs to be done, a panel discussion was held at the High Library Alcove this past Wednesday night (10/18). “Reflections on LGBTQ+ Equality in Pennsylvania,” hosted by the High Library and The Center for Global Understanding and Peacemaking, invited two guest panelists to speak about their experiences as LGBTQ+ individuals working in political positions in Pennsylvania and how they have contributed to social change.
Senior public health major and previous president of the College’s Gender Sexuality Alliance (GSA) Samhar Almomani, led the discussion and asked questions to both guest panel speakers to better understand their perspectives. The speakers present were Rep. Ismail Smith-Wade-El, who made history as Lancaster’s first Black queer legislator. Former staff member of the PA Human Relations Commission Mary Nancarrow also came to share her experiences and insight, including psychology and women and gender studies classes.
Numerous students and faculty came out to the event to hear the speakers’ stories and input. Some of the topics that were discussed included anti-LGBT policies that were being introduced and signed into law in multiple states as well as how the political climate has changed over the past decade due to media and culture. Smith-Wade-El and Nancarrow were born in different generations when different waves of activism were taking place and how the LGBTQ+ community had been perceived. Smith-Wade-El shared his experiences on being elected as a queer person of color and how discussing LGBTQ+ topics were handled in public schools. He also talked about his experiences of being a millennial running for the House of Representatives in a city that is surrounded by an area that has more traditional values.
Nancarrow began to share her thoughts on how the rhetoric of hate towards gay people has changed and stayed similar with the current media. “It’s a real easy switch from anti-gay rhetoric to anti-gay violence, and we have been facing that in this country for forever, but it has become a time where it has become much more prominent, there are some folks that are more determined to express it. By when I was most active, it was those instances where those prejudices were similar of those that were prominent of men. Being LGBTQ was not an identity or how you would define yourself as a part of who you are; it was you were either sinning, sick, or a predator, which sounds a lot similar to the label ‘groomer’ that is commonly used today. Some of the same things were being counted against us, they are reappearing just with a different rhetoric,” Nancarrow said.
Sophomore social work major Hannah Mahoney shared her thoughts on the panel after the discussion came to a close. “I think it was cool to have someone from the millennial generation and having someone from the older generation. I think it was interesting to hear from Mary since she was from Shippensburg, and I went there before I went here, so it was interesting to hear about her experience,” Mahoney said.
The Library has also put out a display of informative facts about LGBTQ+ history in the state of Pennsylvania. The LGBTQ+ History display on the main floor of the High Library will be displayed for the remainder of October for anyone who is interested in learning more about the history of the LGBTQ+ population in Pa.
