Homophobia Among RPCVs

“While I share Peace Corps support of diversity, I think it is inappropriate to support alternative lifestyles and events,” was the response the Atlanta Area RPCVs (AARPCV) received to a request for RPCVs to staff the Peace Corps recruitment table at Gay Pride in June. Two years ago, AARPCV received a similar, though angrier, response from another RPCV. Both of these people are teachers in local schools.

When gayness is referred to as “an alternative lifestyle,” the hairs on the back of my neck stand up as if someone had grated their fingernails on a chalkboard. To me, living in a posh thirty room mansion overlooking the French Riveria is a lifestyle. Being gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender is not. And, it certainly is not posh, at least for most of us.

The battle for inclusion of sexual orientation into the concept of diversity was hard fought and finally won during the Clinton Administration.
On May 28, 1998, President Clinton signed an Executive Order, which applies to the entire federal civilian workforce, adding sexual orientation to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, and age as categories against which discrimination is prohibited. However, Peace Corps had its own agency nondiscrimination policy that included sexual orientation in effect in 1994, long before Clinton’s order in 1998. This policy was advocated by LGBT RPCVs like you and me.

It appears we have some more advocacy to do to help purge homophobia among RPCVs. Personally, I thought this an unlikely group in which to find homophobia rearing its ugly head. Didn’t we all go through cross-cultural training, playing BaaFaa BaaFaa without tearing each other apart in frustration? Weren’t we all admonished from religious proselytization and neocolonialism? Didn’t we spend most of our time trying to learn new cultures and ways of doing things, accepting how different people were, but realizing that down deep we were all alike? Some of the most accepting (of my homosexuality) people I know are RPCVs. My former partner is an RPCV. And, LGB RPCVs number in the thousands, as evidenced by our group’s large membership.

It worries me when RPCVs, especially teachers, are homophobic. With LGBT children many times more likely to contemplate or commit suicide, teachers need to be supportive not judgmental. They should be instilling values of tolerance and acceptance of diversity in all its forms.

RPCVs, whether gay or straight, should see Peace Corps recruitment at Gay Pride events as an opportunity to recruit highly qualified persons to enter Peace Corps Service. If someone assumes they are gay because they are at Gay Pride, they should not become insulted. It is often a daily occurrence for gay people to be assumed to be heterosexual.

I am proud that Peace Corps continues its presence at annual Gay Pride events. It reflects the values that we, or some of us, learned through our Peace Corps service.

Suzanne Marks is LGB RPCV’s Southeastern Representative. She can be contacted at suzmarks@mindspring.com.

Clarificaiton: Regarding my article on homophobia among RPCVs that appeared in the August 2001 newsletter, I’d like to add the following: “Although there has been a vocal minority to the Atlanta Area Returned Peace Corps Volunteers’ and Atlanta Regional Office’s participation in Gay Pride events in Atlanta, the AARPCV group leadership and nearly all its membership supported and continue to support AARPCV involvement in Gay Pride, as does the Atlanta Regional PC office.”