Steven Harbaugh, Fall 2004 Editor

Provoking Strong Reactions

This magazine provokes some really strong reactions. I've seen people pick up Fusion, look through it and promptly throw it down and step on it with disgust. I've seen people keep it with them in their backpack and praise the editors and writers that have worked for the past two issues. For a publication to be able to create that strong of feelings, whether they are good or bad, is something really quite amazing.

I don't want you to pick up this magazine and think that if you are not a member of the LGBT community, this doesn't apply to you. I think everyone, regardless of sexual orientation, race or gender should be educated on issues affecting minority and oppressed communities. That is why magazines like Fusion, Uhuru and Artemis play such an important role on this campus.

For this issue, I wanted to go beyond the borders of the United States to show that prejudice and discrimination doesn't just hit home here. It's actually much worse in countries like Nicaragua and Belarus.

In this issue, Angela Beallor takes you on a trip to Nicaragua to explore the life of Miguel Silva, a young bisexual man struggling with his sexuality in a country that has been ravaged by poverty and joblessness.

Also meet Ruslan, a young man who is able to come out in America -- but would face execution if he came out in his home country of Belarus.

Meanwhile, back in America we have stories about a couple at Kent State dealing with one of the partners coming out as transgender, gay and lesbian parents building families through adoption, a profile of a drag king performer and the many challenges of coming out in different scenarios. We also have a listing of the Top 5 most gay-friendly colleges in Ohio, as well as the least gay-friendly ones.

I hope you take this copy of Fusion and enjoy the strong reactions it provokes -- hopefully, it makes you think harder about your assumptions and your world.

Steven Harbaugh, Editor

Marie B. Ho, Visual Editor

Not-so-foreign Territory

No one can deny that homosexuals and homosexuality exists. Biologists have also discovered homosexuality in other mammals, birds and insects. Homosexuality is a part of life and the natural world.

But my sexuality does not define my entire being. It does not define anyone's entire being. Every day I begin to see a greater importance in exploring the differences and similarities between myself and others. No one thing should define a person.

Many people don't know that my father actually grew up in Malaysia. And despite that, it still seems like a place that only exists as something that contributes to my father's broken English. My father and I rarely speak about his Malaysian cultural heritage.

Frequently my own Malaysian heritage occurs to me as a square box called "Asian and Pacific Islander," while filling out applications. Or, when growing up in a mostly white and Catholic grade school, I was often asked by classmates or other parents to name my country of origin. At home, looking at my fading Malaysian birth certificate in the same drawer as my U.S. passport, I realize how I was forced to choose one identity over another one.

Sexual minorities may fall into a category similar to racial minorities ridden with preconceived feelings latched to stereotypes and peer-influenced discrimination. Unlike racial minorities, sexual minorities cannot always be visibly identified and often choose invisibility.

Gary Gates, a demographer at the Urban Institute, found same-sex couple homes in 97 percent of the country's "census tracts" in an analysis of the 2000 census. Census tracts are smaller than counties and Gates' findings seem to indicate factually that same-sex couples are widely dispersed throughout the entire United States.

Sexual minorities exist throughout the world and live within every U.S. community. Hopefully at some point in the near future, people will realize just how prevalent sexual minorities are in our culture. I hope that one day sexuality will be regarded in society as something that is not taboo, but rather an acceptable part of my being -- like my ethnicity.

Marie B. Ho, Visual Editor