Describing her experiences with Cal State Long Beach students about growing up transgender, Jennifer Leitham, who is a faculty member of the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music and a jazz musician, spoke about the hardships she went through growing up without a clear gender identity.
“It was something I’ve been and always knew about,” Leitham said. “I knew I always was different but could not talk about it.”
In support of National Coming Out Week, Leitham, along with three other CSULB faculty members, agreed to take part in the “Out on Campus: LGBT Staff and Faculty Panel” to connect with LGBT students and their heterosexual allies about “coming out” in a professional setting.
As a professor in Chicano and Latino studies, Antonia Garcia-Orozco always addresses the issues of race, class and gender in the classes she teaches. Once a faculty member at Cal State Northridge, she expressed that her previous colleagues knew someone they were working with was a lesbian, but never assumed it was her.
“I’ve been out for so long. I just kind of assume everyone knows,” Garcia-Orozco said.
Kirstyn Yuk Sim Chun, a psychologist and adviser of the LGBT resource center, was involved in promoting this year’s LGBT faculty and staff panel. It was first organized at last year’s LGBT Diversity Week and was brought back this year due to popular demand.
“This panel gives people an opportunity to learn about diversity issues that may or may not be covered in their classes,” Chun said. “Hearing about the personal experiences of faculty and staff on campus makes the issues come alive.”
Garcia-Orozco joined the panel because she thought the subject of coming out needed to be addressed.
“I think it was time to do this,” Garcia-Orozco said. “You should have pride in yourself and who you are.”
Leitham said she is pleased that this generation is much more accepting than in previous generations.
“People are allowed to openly express themselves now,” she said.
“I can’t hide it and I don’t want to. I’ve had to make a lot of compromises,” Leitham said. “After my transition, I wouldn’t say it’s a bed of roses, but it sure feels a lot better.”
Michael Carbuto, a physician from Student Health Services, said he found that being open about his sexuality “really made me a much better physician.”
“Being gay really made me in tune to the patients sitting in front of me,” Carbuto said.”Most people of higher education are not concerned by it and even appreciate it.”
Clifton Snider, an English professor who also participated in the panel, found that his department was very accepting of his sexual identity. However, when he attended college as a student several generations ago, his professors would never consider coming out if they were gay.
“I had no role models,” Snider said. “The ones I had I found myself. I decided I wanted to become a teacher, but I would not be like that.”
Jacqueline Pham, a junior creative writing major and the host of the event, fully supports the idea of CSULB faculty members connecting with their students as part of the LGBT community.
“It’s very inspiring to know that students are giving voice to faculty members and share the same experiences that can bridge the generation gap,” Pham said. “Students can use the faculty as a resource and as a mentor.”
Snider has even given hope and inspiration to James Suazo, a freshman English major who aspires to become an English teacher.
“I learned more about being publicly out in a more professional way and how to be responsible and feel comfortable with being out in my career,” Suazo said.
Snider, who taught the first course at CSULB about gay and lesbian studies in 1996, attended the National March on Washington for Gay and Lesbian Rights in 1988, which he said will forever be a part of his life.
“I only have one life to live and I’ll be damned if I have to live in the closet,” Snider said. “It’s an extension of my whole life which is to promote acceptance. We’re worth it. We’re all worth it.”
