Newton City Councilors Sign Petition To Support LGBTQ+ Students At BC

NEWTON, MA — A group of Newton City Councilors have joined Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and several former and current Boston City Councilors in signing a petition that calls on Boston College to better support LGBTQ+ students.

City Councilors Holly Ryan, Richard Lipof, Victoria Danberg, Emily Norton, and Alicia Bowman have all signed the petition, which was started in March 2020 by graduate student James Mazereas and other BC students who now run the Instagram account @bcquality.

The petition calls for BC to “finally live up to its obligation to care for and support all of its students” by creating an LGBTQ+ resource center and adding gender identity to its non-discrimination policy.

"BC's record in this area is quite poor,” Mazereas said in an email. "It is not only behind most schools across the country in terms of support for queer and trans students it is falling behind peer Catholic schools as well. Georgetown, Notre Dame, and Marquette have resource centers on their campuses for example. I think this is especially important now as attacks against the lives and safety of trans students are increasing in Republican led states across the country.”

In 2005, BC added sexual orientation to its non-discrimination policy, but failed to include gender identity, according to the petition. It also includes a religious exemption clause that defends the university’s "lawful rights where appropriate to take actions designed to promote the Jesuit, Catholic principles that sustain its mission and heritage.”

Last week, faculty at BC wrote an open letter criticizing the university for excluding non-binary or transgender options in questions about identity in the “Boston College Faculty & Staff Experience Survey,”

"In not providing diverse response options, Boston College as an institution fails to accurately capture the lived truths of its many diverse community members,” the letter reads.

In 2020, one of BC's VP’s also admitted that BC's own data showed LGBTQ+ students were unsure if they felt safe or welcome on campus, reported BC Heights.

Patch has reached out to BC for comment and will update this article when we hear back.

To sign the petition to support LGBTQ+ students at BC, click here.