Bloomington named GLBT-friendly city but incident teams respond most to GLBT crimes

One fall evening two years ago, senior Sabrina Prodhan held her girlfriend’s hand as they walked around downtown Bloomington, gazing at all the different restaurants and trying to decide where to eat.

Neither of them paid much attention to a blue truck approaching them at the intersection of Kirkwood Avenue and Grant Street until a young woman with wavy brown hair rolled down the window and began screaming at them.

“You’re going to burn in hell!” she shrieked. “We’re going to beat your ass!”

The other passenger in the car — a young man — made no attempt to quiet her.

“I was scared. I didn’t know if they were really serious about coming after us,” Prodhan said. “I had no idea who she even was.”

According to the summary of incidents reported to the IU Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Anti-Harassment Team, there were 51 incidents from July 1, 2010 to June 30, 2011.

Only nine GLBT cases were included in the annual statistics on reported hate crime incidents released by Bloomington’s Human Rights Commission. According to the report, individuals who appeared to be gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender were the biggest target of hate crimes in Bloomington. Incidents targeting GLBT individuals reportedly involved more violence than those targeting other groups.

This same month, IU earned Campus Pride’s five-star rating on the LGBT-Friendly Campus Climate Index. Only 33 out of 291 institutions received this rating.

IU students that are members of the GLBT-community have had varied responses to this contradiction.

“I find it to be pretty ironic,” Prodhan said.

Office coordinator of GLBT Student Support Services Doug Bauder said he believes this contradiction arises because Bloomington is so GLBT-friendly.

“Gay people are more visible and open here because they’re welcomed here. They feel comfortable holding their partners’ hand in public,” he said. “Unfortunately, that does make them easier targets than people who are closeted.”

Bauder said IU has made significant progress towards GLBT acceptance.

“There used to be nothing at the administrative level for GLBT students at IU before 1994,” he said.

Now there is an office dedicated to students of the GLBT community that offers counseling and mediation and sponsors various events to promote awareness.

The problems are far from over, however.

“We’ve had students leave campus because of harassment,” Bauder said.

One student received threatening phone calls in the middle of the night and dropped out of IU. Another had his doorway urinated on repeatedly.

Bauder said he urges students who go through such incidents to report them.

Prodhan didn’t.

“I just tried not to let it bother me,” she said. “No matter where you go, there are bound to be people who aren’t accepting.”

Prodhan said she feels that Bloomington is mostly GLBT-friendly, especially when compared to her hometown, Fishers, Ind.

When she was 15, Prodhan told one of her friends that she was attracted to women. A classmate overheard and told all her friends.

“Some of my closest friends told me that I was going to go to hell,” she said. “I would never be openly gay back home.”

Prodhan has not come out to her parents yet.

“I don’t think they’d react very well,” she said.

Junior Brian Thallemer decided to come out to his parents after seeing how open and supportive people were in Bloomington.

“Bloomington is so GLBT-friendly,” he said. “It made me feel like I didn’t have to hide myself anymore.”

After seeking psychological support, he came out to his friends in the middle of his freshman year. Then during the summer before his sophomore year, he told his parents.

“They were more surprised,” Thallemer said. “They’re more conservative and they had painted a picture of what they thought my life should be.”

Unlike Prodhan, Thallemer has not experienced any harassment here at IU.
“I love it here,” he said. “I love walking down the street holding my boyfriend’s hand. I’m more confident, and I can always be myself.”

Prodhan does not feel as comfortable being open with her sexual orientation.
“I don’t know how people would react,” she said. “I just don’t want their opinion of me to change.”