Month: November 2025

I am deeply grateful to the DGALA Board for having made possible my trip to the 40^th anniversary All-Class reunion in July and for presenting me with their “Hero” award.  Accepting the invitation was a challenge for me, and it took personal encouragement and support from Pete, Erik and Amanda to give me the courage to follow through.

Making the trip meant confronting the physical limitations imposed by my three-year battle with Long Covid, as well as reconciling a half century of conflicted feelings about my complicated relationship with Dartmouth. At the time I received the invitation, leaving my apartment required a lot of physical effort, and overcoming months of housebound social withdrawal.

Never having attended any Dartmouth reunion before, there’s no denying the apprehension about returning to the place that largely set the course of my life, for good or bad.  I worried about how it would feel being among so many others whose grand successes in life made me less proud of my own, especially when struggling with serious current health and financial problems.

Making the decision to attend set a goal for me to build the strength and stamina that a cross-country trip would require and motivated me to begin pushing myself forward again. Even more than the award, the prospect of at last meeting  in-person the fabulous “House of Lewan” drag children and seeing them perform reinforced my determination to be there.

Was I even remotely prepared to handle the tropical heat and humidity, punctuated by a violent storm warning blaring exactly as I was checking in at the registration tent? Not a chance, but I did my best to damply lumber my bulk around campus, sweating as profusely as I ever did back in the bathhouse days. Did I move so slowly and require stopping for rest breaks so often that I missed about half of the activities I had hoped to attend? Yes, but the events I did make, Friday night’s Talent Show with the House of Lewan, and the al fresco awards dinner Saturday could not have filled my heart with more joy.

Somehow, my lodging assignment put me back in the same corner of Richardson where I had spent my tumultuous Freshman year—and the window framed exactly the same view I stared at during those long, lonely hours of wondering who I was and what was going to happen to me.  I felt the continuity of the through-line of my life, searching for direction and answers from “out there,” when the eventual reality was that they were to be found inside me. Even the surprising jolt of adolescent “sexual tension” flashback reaction to all-male shared bathrooms and group showers took me back a half-century!

And what is a “hero” award anyway? The trip got me to go back and read my handwritten journals from those bygone days, and I even pulled up all the articles written about me from the archives of ”The D.”  Somewhere I’d heard that a hero was someone who felt fear but went ahead and acted anyway. So much of for what I was being recognized wasn’t so scary at the time, but simply my wanting life to be better in those barely co-ed days for everyone who didn’t fit in the Webster Avenue mode.  If anything, my “bravery” was more like naivete or foolish disregard and denial of consequences. That years later people were showing me appreciation for those sometimes silly, sometimes serious things made me realize we never quite know the extent of the impact we’ve had.

Nothing for which I’m recognized would have been possible without the friendship and hard work of so many other Dartmouth pioneers, like Bill Monsour’77 first launching Students for Social Alternatives, and Hillary Goodridge ’78 leading the women’s community. The infamous “Carnival is a Drag” show was a group effort of my Alpha Theta house siblings, especially the late Beth Krakower ‘92, and my ’79 classmate Sam Abel.

Dean Warner Traynham ’57 generous support of the Tucker Foundation created a safe space to enable Dartmouth’s first open gay community as much as Dick’s House Head Counselor Bruce Baker’s kindness and affirmation in those early Human Sexuality Growth groups. That we are celebrating this 40^th DGALA reunion is testimony to Ed Hermance ’62 and Chuck Edwards A’86  organizing gay alumni in 1985 at the height of the AIDS crisis, when any hope for the future was desperately needed.

And who could have ever predicted that Dartmouth would create Triangle House in 2014 so queer students could have a place of their own? Or would officially recognize Jaime Aranzabal ’24’s petition for a drag performance troupe whose success is now winning admirers far and wide?

Too many to mention are all those who may have kept the closet door firmly closed at one time, who have later come forward to donate, volunteer and contribute to the vision of Dartmouth’s gay students and alumni taking their place as equals in the Big Green family. And that goes totally without mentioning all the straight allies who privately or publicly risked their reputations to do the right thing, bravely confronting prejudice and hate. Since the advent of social media, I’ve been surprised by how many people have reached out to apologize for past hurts, to clear their conscience, to make amends, some who I never knew by name before.

The weekend flashed by so fast that by the time Sunday morning arrived and it was time to leave, the list of things I wanted to see and do while I was in Hanover was many times longer than before I got there.  Instead of enduring dark thoughts and bad memories, the verdant green grass and bright blue skies connected me with happier times I’d nearly forgotten.  That’s probably why reunions are in the summer, I’d guess, rather than having us relive the trauma of 8AM classes during Winter Term.

Now that the Reunion experience is a few months past, I can report the momentum of the trip has gotten me through a round of medical testing that shows more recovery than I had thought possible, and renewed energy to reach out and re-establish social connections. At the beginning of the year, things felt pretty gloomy for me, but now day-by-day I’m finding a path toward something better.  As I said when accepting the award, no matter how much my butt was kicked, Dartmouth has repeatedly brought opportunity, connection and renewal into my life. As difficult as it has been at times for me to admit, I owe Dartmouth for much of what made who I am and made my life worth living.

Thank you so much, Cheryl [Bascomb], and good evening, everyone! Welcome home! It is wonderful to have everyone back on the Green; to welcome so many of our younger alumni for their reunion weekends; and of course, to celebrate what is an extraordinary milestone: forty years of DGALA! I especially want to thank Erik Ochsner [’93, DGALA President], Kevin Perry [’04, DGALA 40th Reunion Chair], and the many, many volunteers who came together to make this weekend happen. Can we give them a round of applause?

If there is one thing I have seen again and again in my first two years here … it is the tireless work that goes into building this tight-knit Dartmouth community. That does not just spring up overnight. It happens because class after class, generation after generation do the work: to welcome others in; to reach out across lines of difference; to make sure this is a place of inclusion and dignity for everyone who sets foot on our campus. And I can’t think of a more powerful
example than this DGALA community.

I don’t need to remind anyone that forty years ago, when DGALA first sought official recognition from the College … the idea was met with reluctance. And yet because of the dedication of those early pioneers like Ed Hermance, and Chuck Edwards, and Jim Gibb; because of Phil Hanlon and other leaders DGALA is honoring tonight; because of the ongoing work of so many of our students and alumni … we gather tonight at a very different moment.

A moment when DGALA is not just recognized as a part of this Dartmouth family — but is celebrated, welcomed, and valued as true partners in all we do. DGALA has been instrumental as we build the best Dartmouth we possibly can: regularly meeting with my senior leadership team; convening regional alumni gatherings; working with Triangle House to provide grants to students; and of course, collaborating with the Dartmouth College Fund for twenty-one years now, to provide scholarships to LGBTQIA+ students. In each of the past two fiscal years, DGALA members have generously funded five DGALA Scholars!

And even as we look at the remarkable work we’ve done together … we must also acknowledge this moment we’re in. We’re coming off a very eventful year, to say the least — not just for higher education, but for our country, our world. I know in LGBTQIA communities around the country, this is a moment of anxiety, even fear. I want to say very clearly to our Dartmouth family here tonight: We will always, always support our community members. We will not allow government overreach into our academic mission. And we will continue to protect and defend diversity in all forms on our campus — because we know a having a big tent and different perspectives makes ALL of us better.

That means continuing to be an inclusive campus and community — where everyone, no matter your gender identity or who you love, is valued and supported. That means continuing to provide comprehensive mental health support and gender-affirming care, as a core value — and we have an incredible team, led by our Chief Health and Wellness Officer, Dr. Estevan Garcia, who is here tonight … dedicated to doing exactly that.

And it means continuing to uphold our strict nondiscrimination policy — so that every student is provided with equal opportunities and support services.

Those values do not change no matter *who* is in office.

When we create that kind of inclusive community … it allows us to live up to our academic mission. It means we can bring exceptional young people to Hanover, from all different walks of life, so they can engage in civil discourse; teach them how to think, not what to think; and help shape them into the leaders that our world desperately needs right now. That is the mission we are doubling down on right now. That is what, together, we can achieve.

So let me offer a toast to 40 years of DGALA … to tonight’s honorees … and to our work continuing to build an inclusive community that makes us all better. Cheers!