Jean-Baptiste Nicolas, my roommate at Tuck School of Business,Dartmouth, was a French gay man.
Friendly. Out. Open. Honest.
From an initial awkwardness to a good friendship, he was just like all my other friends. He was as culturally sensitive as he was stylish.
It was 1998.
Far from the fairly liberal environment of today, we grew up with first being ignorant about the gay community, then maybe being embarrassed about acknowledging someone’s sexuality.
Today we have several positive gay role models in our society. And you feel their pain when they talk of not having equal rights in society- a license to marry or corporate medicare support for their partners.
As a school there has been some awkwardness broaching this subject, and we have had internal debates on how much can we push the envelope.
Yet, talk one must, as our young adults are grappling in the dark.
Some being stifled at home, some mocked, some falling prey to anti-social elements. We have to take responsibility to create safe environments for our youth.
We are not going to sweep the topic under the carpet.
We will hold dialogues.
We will hold conversations.
We support equality and love.
Let us know how we can help.