Somewhere so over! the rainbow : the danger of safe-zones

Abstract

When I see that acronym, I always think of the myriad other Js that could be substituted for Jesus—his answers being relentlessly predictable—and imagine potential outcomes given the specific individual. In truth, I never gave “what would Jesus do?” much thought until I moved to Kentucky, a place where many students sport rubber bracelets featuring those letters and take their affiliation with Christianity, as well as opposition to LGBT people, quite seriously. As a “J” myself, I answered that question in my first years as a junior faculty member with the response, “create a Safe Zone,” which, at the very least, did not seem un-Christian of me, though many disagree. I have spent a great deal of time in the past seven years contemplating Safe Zones— the national university project in the United States aimed at bettering the lives of LGBT students, faculty, and staff on campus—and thinking about the stickers emblazoned with their rainbow logo that decorate many office doors throughout my campus, and many others across this nation. I also think of Judy Garland—The Wizard of Oz “Dorothy” version—when I glimpse them and I’m immediately overcome by that cloyingly saccharine performance and naïve worldview. I like Judy immensely, as I do justice and equality for all, but only when she’s authentically largerthan-life, clearly overmedicated, and impishly brassy in black tights, pumps, short shorts, and a touch too much makeup. When I see her in those braids and that blue gingham dress speaking childishly, I feel I’m beginning to suffocate and that I must choose my words carefully. I respond similarly to the so-called Safe Zone I helped institute and now wish I could drop a house on.