FEATURES january 2002 OlTl‘1 - 13 One is a Lonely land probably inaccurate) Number Gay Alumni and Students of St. Michael’s College BY KEVIN THOMAS ALTHOUSE Class of 1972, St. Michael’s College Unfortunately, I’m one of those easily distracted guys who can sometimes sit through a three—hour movie and be absolutely clueless about the main plot — usually because I try to discern a “deeper meaning” to sub—plots that only my fertile-yet-unfo- cused imagination concocts. So, it wasn’t exactly unusual for me not to have immediately extrapolated something profoundly and personally compelling from an obituary that I read nearly five years ago in SMC’s alumni publica- tion Founder.’s Hall about a 1972 classmate of mine who had died on December 1, 1997 in Boston. My classmate’s obit was a typically worded arti- cle about a typical alum’s death, or so I thought. Initially, my concern over Michael W/ard’s death was the sort of self—serving there—but-for—the—grace—of- God—go—I anguish that most of us experience when we first learn about the death of someone familiar. But, as my eyes met the obituary’s last sentence, my gut felt as if it’d been pounded sharply by a punch from Muhammed Ali in his prime. “[Michael] is survived by his partner, his mother and three siblings,” read the last sentence of the obituary. Commencement, May 1972: Maybe the Camera Knew? Author Kevin Althouse»(right front) and Michael Ward (left rear), accepting congratulations from his father at the side of SMC’s Joyce Hall moments after com- mencement exercises for the Class of 1972. “Partner”? Sure, “partner” can mean many things. In legal parlance, it could be used to identify a participant in a business or corporate venture. But, by con— I . temporary popular culture standards, “partner” relates to something alto- gether different than garden-variety legal partnerships or businesses, and that’s what floored me. After I did a little research, I was pretty certain that my hunch was correct, and that there was a “deeper meaning” about my deceased classmate. And from that deeper meaning, I was fairly. certain that there were at least two of us in my class: Mike and me. ' Until I read his obit, I didn’t really know too much about Michael, espe- cially personal aspects of his life. Given theera, the social and political environment while we were students, probably neither of us had a clue about any “deeper meanings” about each other.-At least I didn’t. In retrospect, that’s really unsettling because the epiphany I had about the Michael Ward I knew from a generation past made me re-evaluate the sta- tistics I’d heard so much about. After all, two students out of a class of some 340 in my class is roughly one-half of one percent—hard1y— the ten per cent figure that professor Alfred Kinsey hypothesized more than-half a century ago. Simple logic told me that there were more than two of us. There‘ just had to be. A - l g aD.e.eré.£,', riff» ,a3;§ ("mama Wan: lk 3W.W& ‘Cf inland ms raw; filwifil psaowuunr» fill.’ :1 1' kills zaezagyraa. qt- cflfikj to an trgmu"1 accent, and worshiped New York Ranger all—star_ goalie Ed Giacomin. [Asif by design, the Bruins won the Stanley Cup the year Mike and I grad- uated. And wouldn’t'you know it: Mike’s hockeylhero, Bobby Orr, was named the ’72 playoffs MVP. Orr was given the ‘award immediately after the Bruins -shut-out (who else?) my New York Rangers and my goalie-hero, Ed Giacomin, inthe last game 3 — O for a 4 —" 2 series Stanley Cup victory.l Sports teams aside, Mike «and I went our separate ways moments after Sen. Ted Kennedy finished his address tothe’ '72 graduates on the steps of Durick library that pleasant May’ afternoon. Mike soon joined the U. 8. Army, and was stationed ,mainly_ir_1. Germany‘ ‘as’an.English-German interpreter. After leaving the "service, Mike returnedto the Boston area and worked for the US. 'Labor Department “while he attended. Suffolk University Law School in the evenings. After he graduated from law school, Mike clerked for a year fora judge, then moved to Washington, D.C. where he worked as an attorney for the Labor Department. _ I was a bit more of a gypsy, securing a Master’s degree in journalism at Syracuse University immediately after graduating. from Saint Michael’s; worked as a political reporter at a daily newspaper; then returned to S. U. and its College of Law two years later to get a law degree; did a stint as an administrator of continuing legal education seminars for the New York State Bar Association; taught writing courses for nearly a decade at a’ Florida uni- versity; did another tour of duty witha daily newspaper; taught at several cornrnunity colleges, andnow currently float -between the worlds of jour- _’;nalism'-and acaderne. _ _ , , _ V Despite our personal and professional dissirnilarities, Mike and I did share C some rather ‘obvious _affinities‘: .we were about the. same age; same gender; 4 'b_'o_th of ushadilaw degrees; we __were‘Rorr1an Catholics, and Mike and I were .alurr_1ni--of S,'ai'nt"Mi.Cha'el’s College; Less, obvious to most, perhaps_ all, of our Saint Michael’s.classr'nates is the fact t_hat.Mike and"Ii'w,ere' part of a newly emerging. -—’ but al'wa'ys"present'. -9-‘ social minority in the U.S. and on Catholic college campuses across the country: the gay Catholic student. For_ many sexual minority students, life at public, non-sectarian colleges or universities can be stressful, despite inotionsof so-called “political cor- rectness.” But, life_ for sexual minority students attending Catholic colleges can be extraordinarily difficult, even" in an early 21st-century “enlightened” culture." -' ' " -- ‘.,-......-s...,-——~