Tag: LGBT

Spencer Sharpe

11 Burning Questions with a 2012 Olympic attendee

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Originally published in the Los Angeles Loyolan. For original, please refer to: 11 Burning Questions with a 2012 Olympic attendee – Los Angeles Loyolan.

Spencer Sharpe

Photo Credit: Liana Bandziulis | The Los Angeles Loyolan

1. How did you get the opportunity to attend the Games?

I learned about a program at the London School of Economics and Political Science through one of my friends who actually was a graduating [LMU student and] Ignatian last year. … I then checked the dates and realized they lined up with the Olympics. So it was kind of an accident.

2. What events did you see?

I saw men’s volleyball. That’s the only thing I could get tickets to, actually, because they stopped selling tickets to Americans. … I was asking at an information booth, “I’m just looking for a ticket. I really don’t care what it is, any event.” And the guy next to me said, “I have some extra tickets, I’m not gonna be able to go to this event. I’ll sell them to you at the same price I paid for them.” And people were paying, like, five to 10 times the value of the ticket, so for 20 pounds, I said yes, and I got to go to the men’s volleyball match between Poland and Australia, and it was really cool. Most people weren’t rooting for a specific team, so every time a point was scored, the audience went crazy.

3. Who was your favorite Olympian this year?

It would have to be Michael Phelps. I still think he’s a god. I think he’s amazing in the fact that he can come back after four more years have gone by and still win gold against brand new athletes and younger athletes.

4. Has it been a goal of yours to go to the Olympics?

More of a dream. I’m originally from Iowa, so I never really thought it would be possible, because the Olympics aren’t coming to Iowa, ever. I never really imagined I’d get the opportunity, so this huge accident was kind of fulfilling one of my dreams.

5. Do you feel you can go back to watching the Olympics on TV after seeing them in person, or will it just not compare?

There’s no comparison anymore. I got the opportunity to watch the Olympics with a whole bunch of people from all around the world, because it was a very international school that I went to, so it was really exciting, watching it there in the city with those people.

6. Do you consider yourself more of a summer Olympics guy or do you prefer the winter Olympics?

I definitely like summer. There are more events I can watch that are more suspenseful. … My sister’s really into soccer, so my family’s a big soccer family, so we always watch those games. I really think the equestrian events are cool, the swimming is awesome, the diving is fun. [Spencer’s sister is LMU soccer team captain and senior Whitney Sharpe.]

7. What else did you do while in London?

I did a lot of cultural stuff, and I did a lot of nerdy stuff. I went to the British Museum, the British Library, and I got to see some of J.K. Rowling’s handwritten [pages] of the first Harry Potter ever, and the first ever drawing of the Shire from “The Hobbit.” The best thing to do … was the pubs you could go to, just because there were people from all around the world at every single pub that you went to, and it was just so international and such a world city at that time.

8. If you could compete in one Olympic event, which would you choose?

I would do the high dive, because I think that’s fascinating. I really think that being up that high and jumping would get my adrenaline rushing.

9. For freshmen reading the Loyolan for the first time, what advice do you have for them?

I’d say, really, if you’re trying to get a solid GPA, don’t take your first classes as a joke. Really focus on your coursework. … Don’t forget that you’re here for school.

10. What are you involved in on campus?

I am an Ignatian, and I’m working on starting a new organization on campus, but it doesn’t exist yet. It’ll be a policy-based organization. Our idea, me and a few other Ignatians, is that it [will focus on] issues that affect Los Angeles. So homelessness, economic issues, environmental issues. We’re going to find professors at LMU who study that issue and then what we’re going to do is with them, create a type of policy proposal or a solution to that problem. Just in a sense of hoping LMU students become more aware of issues that affect Los Angeles so we can offer real solutions. (online only)

11. What are your big hopes for LMU during in its 101st year?

I hope that LMU continues to create a great reputation. I feel like with our 100th year, more people were becoming aware of our University, because it’s mostly a regional school, I’d say. So I hope we continue projecting our image both nationally and internationally, so that eventually our school could be a little more recognized. … I just don’t think people take LMU as seriously as they should.

12. LMU’s LGBTSS is staging a presentation of the play “8,” about Proposition 8 and marriage equality, in early September. The decision has just started to get a little flack. Thoughts?

As someone who’s a bisexual individual, I really do care about this issue. … What I think the University should recognize, as I think they did by [allowing] this, that they have a wide range of students. Not every student is a Catholic or a Jesuit, so I think by LMU allowing it to go forth, in a sense it’s kind of addressing the fact that many different students go here, and they will support and bring awareness to every issue, even if it goes against religious affiliation. I hope that LMU does not cave to this outward pressure. … If they really stood their ground, that would be very respectable in a university, and as a bisexual, I would feel like my university supported me, and didn’t have a sense of a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy, just because it’s a Catholic university.

Don’t hate the “8”

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Originally published in the Los Angeles Loyolan. For original, please refer to: Should “8” play?: Don’t hate the “8” – Los Angeles Loyolan.

Graphic Credit: Alberto Gonzalez | The Los Angeles Loyolan

It shouldn’t even be a debate.

I’ll admit – I’m curious as to what fellow contributor Lauren Rockwell’s argument is regarding the LGBT Student Services (LGBTSS) Office’s presentation of “8,” the pro-marriage equality play, at LMU tomorrow night. From my point of view, not as an LGBT individual, nor as someone who is pro-marriage equality, but simply as an LMU student, I fail to see a single valid reason why the play shouldn’t be read on our campus.

Agree or disagree with what the play is arguing, the fact is that the show must go on, not because of the subject matter, but because it is an expression of a faction of students’ opinions. Their voices deserve to be heard.

For those who aren’t familiar with the play, “8” is a dramatic interpretation of the Perry v. Schwarzenegger trial currently headed for the Supreme Court. The case is about the constitutionality of Proposition 8, the infamous amendment to the California constitution that banned same-sex marriage in the state. Written by Dustin Lance Black, the Academy Award-winning screenwriter of “Milk,” “8” is an unabashedly biased and activist look at the trial, but it never pretends to be anything else.

Controversy brewed about the presentation of “8” on LMU’s campus when The Cardinal Newman Society posted an article about this on its blog. The post, which has been picked up by a couple other Catholic blogs but has failed to make a dent in the greater media sphere, argues that LMU is promoting gay “marriage” (complete with incredibly condescending quotation marks) through its production of “8.”

What The Cardinal Newman Society fails to understand is that if LMU were to shut down the production of “8,” the University would be silencing student voices simply because they are at odds with the Catholic Church’s positions – a terrifying proposition, and completely at odds with the Jesuit mission to educate the whole person and encourage learning, as LMU’s mission statement reads.

When asked about “8” in an interview with the Loyolan, ASLMU President Bryan Ruiz said that he believes LMU students’ self-expression “does need to be heard.” LMU and President David Burcham are clearly working with the same mindset, and their refusal to cancel the show is inspiring.

I’m incredibly proud to go to a religiously-affiliated school that is comfortable presenting a pro-marriage equality play on its campus while not fully endorsing it. To endorse the show would indeed be a violation of the Catholic position, something we shouldn’t ask the University to do. But to shut it down would violate our mission. So in truth, President Burcham and his administration have done the only thing they can do without appearing hypocritical to some part of the University’s identity.

You’ll notice I haven’t talked much about why I think “8” is so great and how important the message it will spread to students is. That’s because “8” isn’t great, and I think said important message is something the majority of our student body already supports.

On paper, “8” is a clumsily written play, full of preachy monologues and an unwillingness to portray marriage equality opponents as anything but morons. The marriage equality debate deserves a better dramatic interpretation, and I have no doubt that several years down the road, we’ll see one. But a show being bad isn’t any reason to censor it from running. As the Loyolan’s primary theatre critic for the past two years, I’ve certainly seen shows I didn’t like, but you never once heard me call for their cancellation out of sheer disgust. Besides, the point of “8” isn’t to be great theatre – it’s activist in nature.

The message it is spreading, however, is something I think most students on this campus and across the country already feel: Marriage equality is the right thing for right now. Even among young conservatives in the U.S., support for same-sex marriage is rapidly rising. A Washington Post-ABC News poll from May shows that almost half of young conservatives do indeed support marriage equality – and among young liberals, that number is sky-high. So, I don’t necessarily think a college campus, even a Jesuit one like LMU’s, is the most effective stage for a play like “8.”

What does any of this matter? Simple: It doesn’t. No matter how bad the play is, how repetitive its message may be or how much it may get The Cardinal Newman Society’s panties into a bunch, there is simply no valid reason to cancel “8.” At the end of the day, this is about students’ free expression, and we go to a school that values said expression.

That’s something worth celebrating, not debating.

Anderson Cooper

Anderson Cooper’s Man Has Another Man

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Anderson Cooper

Photo Credit: Flickr Creative Commons

Who would cheat on Anderson Cooper? If photographs published by the Daily Mail yesterday evening are to be believed, his boyfriend would.

The photos show a rather well-lit Ben Maisani, the boyfriend in question, kissing another man in a New York park. Maisani, owner of Manhattan bar Eastern Bloc, has purportedly been with the silver fox of journalism for three years. Their relationship was brought into the limelight after the newsman’s announcement of his sexuality in an interview with The Daily Beast earlier this summer. According to the Mail, a wedding date was set for this fall.

The whole thing has shades of another celebrity affair that erupted earlier this summer: Kristen Stewart’s affair with married Snow White and the Huntsman director Rupert Sanders, including rather revealing photos and a relationship that’s never been publicly confirmed. Unlike Stewart and ex-beau Robert Pattinson’s split, however, it’s unlikely that either man will be making any public statements about the photos. Additionally, I wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t even split up.

The modern portrait of a relationship is changing, especially in queer and metropolitan circles. Open relationships are seemingly becoming more and more popular, and frankly, no one knows exactly how Cooper and Maisani’s relationship works except for Cooper and Maisani. Perhaps their relationship is open; perhaps the photos aren’t from when the Mail is reporting; perhaps Maisani actually was cheating. There are plenty of possibilities.

It’ll be interesting to watch how this news develops, especially because it’s one of the first instances in recent memory of a gay celebrity relationship coming under major media scrutiny because of a perceived indiscretion. If theirs turns out to be an open relationship, how will the media process this? Even among straight folks, open relationships are pretty harshly judged — think about Mo’Nique and her husband’s marriage. If the photos are old, then the question becomes ‘how old?’ And if Cooper and Masani’s relationship is headed towards a breakup, then he’s about to become the gay community’s most eligible bachelor. Whichever way it breaks down, Cooper’s in for a bumpy ride. Let’s just hope he doesn’t leave the house looking like Stewart did.