New BU Straight-Ally Center Dedicated to Exclusivity and Injustice
By Jameson Beckman
The opening of the LGBTQIA+ Center this past Spring, while initially met with open arms, has been the target of recent calls from the other side of the sexuality see-saw.
Critics – namely, the straight-ally student group the Cisters – have shamed BU on social media and in campus protests for being one-sided in their representation. They have called for a consideration of everyone’s sexuality and expression.
The university has responded by opening the Straight-Ally Center, which seeks to create division, hegemony, and difference.
Jason White, president of the Cisters, said this a huge win and an important step forward for the status quo.
“It’s important that everyone is represented — not just the marginalized,” White said.
The center, also located at 808 Comm. Ave just a room down from the LGBTQIA+ Center, provides resources and information for straight students on campus. A Bunion investigation revealed it mostly contained tables of Axe body spray and single-use lipstick in ketchup packets.
Self-identified straight Kaetilyn Smith, CAS ‘27, appreciates what the center does for the heterosexual community at BU.
“I finally have a place where I can find my community,” Smith said. “It’s way harder than you’d think to find fellow straights on campus. It’s just so gay here.”
Due to the centers’ vicinity to each other, queer agitprop has been covertly swept into the Straight-Ally Center; a number of straights have been seen frowning at copies of Adrienne Rich’s “Compulsory Heterosexuality.”
Going forward, White hopes to establish the center’s border by building a wall between it and the LGBTQIA+ Center. Plans for the center include the organization of a Straight Pride parade down Comm. Ave and t-shirts that exclaim “Love is Love (as long as it’s straight).”
“We want all of BU to know what we stand for: antiquated gender norms and sex between only men and women, and maybe also two women, because that is really hot,” White said, unprompted.