Stigmatization and Safety on Campus

Had a bit of a scare tonight.

Went to the Japanese restaurant on campus to sing at Karaoke Night. At the end a friend and I ran into a neighbour of ours from last year on the way out of the restaurant. Spoke with them for a while and shook hands before leaving. Now the neighbour we spoke to is gay, and was at the bar with his boyfriend. Having seen my friend and I shake hands with these fellows, some other guys starting shouting accusations of homosexuality at us while we were leaving.

It wasn't so much the accusations of being gay that I really cared about (I'm not afraid of sexuality accusations coming from people I don't know) but the possible short term consequences of them. I feared that they were going to follow us and beat us up. I guess I was lucky that I was with my friend, or else I'd look totally defenseless.

The feeling was really something. To feel that someone might come attack me and I'd be able to do very little about it was scary as hell. Defenseless. Dependent on outside forces.

Dangerous combination.

Getting beaten up like that would probably change me quite a bit. I'd take a while to feel normal in everyday situations.

I'm okay though. Nothing happened and I still have my basic trust in my safety when I'm at York. Just an anomalous situation!

Phew.

Anyway it's time to sleep,

-Inkhorn