Acts of Translation

Visibility is not about presence alone. It is also about the presence of absence where absence is not what is not visible but what is not given thought. If sexuality is an invisible trait, making it visible implies translating what is not widely understood. It demands outreach. It requires constant acts of translation of traits that sexual minorities embody but may not make/be evident.

This was my argument at the A-Team Annual Meeting last week. The board members, including myself, had gathered to reflect on our work of this past year and evaluate our current strengths and limitations. Our greatest contribution was the proposal for Gender-Neutral Housing and a new forum entitled International + LGBT formed in collaboration with the International Center to address issues specific to International LGBT identified/questioning scholars and individuals at the University. Both these were initiatives of students. Both these marked the start of a series of conversations to follow. And finally, both these were markers of the outreach potential of our team.

But this is not where we concluded. Continuing on the idea of translation, we felt that our efforts of this past year will need to assume a descriptive framework for new board members to begin work from. We argued that description rather than prescription is what will both sustain this body and facilitate newer conversations on thoughtful topics needing action. This was to remind us that A-team stood for Action Team – action informed by thought, conversation, debate and research.

Thank you Jackie for being such brilliant support throughout. You are terrific!