(This article is from the November issue of Out & About, the monthly
newsletter of the Lesbian and Gay Community Association of Jacksonville.
All articles in Out & About (c) LGCA.)

Fun Facts: Jacksonville University's most famous alumnus (at present)
is TV comedian and L.A. drive-time radio personality Jay Thomas.
Thomas, who has *no* connection with the events related in this
article, spoke on campus earlier this year during the city's annual
film festival. JU is the private university in Jacksonville --
a large portion of the student body is from the Northeast. Most
residents of Northeast Florida attend the state-supported (and
larger) University of North Florida, which also has an active
gay/lesbian/bisexual student group.

Followup: Since I filed this story for publication (the Nov. issue
was printed Oct. 28 so we could hit the streets in time for the
influx of visitors attending the Fla.-Ga. game this weekend at
the Gator Bowl), I have heard from a reliable source that a number
of Brian Ursery's dormmates have sent a letter to The Navigator
(the student newspaper at JU) stating that anti-gay messages had
been posted on the floor of his dorm before but his friends in
the dorm had removed them before Brian saw them. Apparently Brian
did not know about the earlier anti-gay messages directed at him,
which is why he made no reference to them when I interviewed him
for this story. -- D Lewis

By Dennis Lewis
Managing Editor

        Brian Ursery, co-founder of a support group for gay, lesbian and
bisexual students at Jacksonville University, has withdrawn from
the school after being the victim of anonymous taunts.
        But the Association of Gays, Lesbians and Friends (ASGLAF) chapter
at JU is still active, propelled by straight friends of Ursery
who want to improve the climate for gay and lesbian stud-
ents at the university.
        Ursery's decision to withdraw from JU stemmed from an incid-
ent on Sept. 6 in which someone had written "You Faggot" across a
message board on the door of his dormitory room.
        Ursery, who is now living in Atlanta, said that, though he reported
the incident to the residential director of his dorm, initially
he tried to slough off the message.
        "I did not erase it D [below it] I wrote 'thank you, I already
knew that.' My friends and I joked about it over lunch," Ursery
said.
        "At first, it did not bother me," he said, but the incident began
to trouble him. "I thought, first they're going to start writing
on my [message] board, next they're going to say something, then
they're going to do something," Ursery said.
        "You wake up and you're going outside to read [the messages] on
your message board, and you have to wonder if there is going to
be something else out there," he said.
        Dr. Andrea Weisberger, the JU faculty advisor to ASGLAF, said
this incident would discourage other gay and lesbian students
at the university from being open about their sexuality.
        "This has sent them the message, 'be very secretive ... be very
quiet.' There is no incentive to be open in this climate," she
said.
        But Weisberger said that the incident has spurred interest in
ASGLAF.
        "We had 10 people show up [at the October meeting], which was
the most we have had come to one meeting. The majority of people
that showed up are not gay or lesbian ... they know Brian and
were appalled at what had happened to him," she said.
        Only a couple of people showed up for ASGLAF's first meeting,
Weisberger said, and other meetings had between four and five
people in attendance. The majority of attendees were JU students
and an occasional alumnus of the university, though some members
of the faculty stopped by at one meeting in a show of support,
she said.
        ASGLAF was founded in December 1992.
        Dr. Bill Robertson, vice president for academic affairs at JU,
said the university has revised its non-discrimination policy
to include sexual orientation. The new wording will appear in
the next edition of the university catalog, he said.
        "The policy is in effect now," Robertson said. "The fact that
it was not [in the current catalog] does not mean the re-
verse is true."
        But Ursery doubts that publication of a non-discrimination policy
including the words "sexual orientation" would have de-
terred whoever wrote "You Faggot" on his message board.
        "They could care less ... they probably don't know that we have
a non-discrimination policy," he said.
        Ursery said he doesn't know if the university has conducted an
investigation of the incident. "To me, at this point, it is really
irrelevant," he said.
        Ursery said he was the only openly gay student at JU who lived
on campus. "I had friends who were gay, but they were commuter
students," he said.
        Ursery said that being openly gay at JU meant being honest about
his sexuality.
        "The only reason people knew I was gay on campus was because they
talked to me," he said.
        Ursery said he knows of another gay student who left JU because
he was uncomfortable with the climate on campus toward gay and
lesbian students.
        The student had attended JU three years ago, and returned to school
last year. Ursery said that shortly after his withdrawal from
JU, "I talked to him and he had left [JU also]. When I asked him
why, he response was he felt so repressed there."