Being out in small town, some still hiding
Emily Steele/Student Government Editor
Issue date: 10/14/09 Section: News
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Under ordinance 5-2-2-6 in the Charleston City Code "it shall be unlawful for any person … to appear in any such place in a dress not belonging to his sex."
While some may overlook this as a humorous outdated rule inherited from a stricter generation, the law, both then and now, targets members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community.
First written in 1964, this part of the law is not enforced, said Charleston Police Sergeant Rick Giordano in an interview last spring.
The Coles County Minority Affairs Coalition brought this item to the attention of city councilmen, but as of now no official proposal has been submitted. Charleston City Clerk Deborah Muller updates the code whenever a proposal is approved by the city council.
"This is one that basically is not being enforced, but it's something that of course we do need to address because we want a working code that really works for us," Muller said.
Laws like ordinance 5-2-2-6 are one reason Tammy Pygott and Erik Rose decided to form the Coles County Minority Affairs Coalition.
Pygott, a Mattoon native, and Rose, a former Eastern student, started the coalition last spring after attending a conference and being inspired by the film "Milk."
"I was thinking about it all night and I was texting [Pygott] at like 5 o'clock in the morning being like, 'We need to do something,'" Rose said. "She texted me back an hour later and was like, 'Yeah, we need to do something about it. I went to sleep thinking about it, and I woke up thinking about it.'"
The group caters to different minority groups like religion, race and physical disabilities in the area, but last spring they focused on LGBT concerns. The group attended events like the Pride-sponsored Masturbatathon and the equal taxes for equal rights protest.
"People have this tendency to think that gay people don't exist in a small town, which is so backwards for people to think," said Pygott in an April interview. "There's so many people who are afraid to come out, people who have lived here for years and years, who are old, who have partners who have been together for 30 years. I know people who are still hiding."
Katie McCarthy, Eastern's Counseling Center assistant director, said in an interview last spring that small towns often offer less diversity compared to urban areas, making it more difficult for an LGBT identified individual.
Since Pride, Eastern's LGBT group, was formed in the 1990s, it has attracted not only students, but people from the community as well. Pride adviser Doug DiBianco recalled people who came to the group seeking refuge from the community.
"I remember two older lesbian women. One of them her children wouldn't talk to her, another one talked about being in the woods one day and having a gun in her mouth," DiBianco said.
Rose is currently working to organize the group after a summer of trying to get a human rights ordinance passed in Charleston, similar to the one in Champaign.
"I think people see that the times are changing, and they're trying to change with them," Rose said.
While many people expressed interest in the coalition last spring, Rose is encouraged by the growing gay movements happening in small towns across the U.S.
"It seems like more and more LGBT youth are coming out in rural areas which is amazing, it's really hard to think it, or even believe it, but it's happening."
Emily Steele can be reached at 581-7942 or easteele2@eiu.edu.
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