Lynn native honored by R.I. Legislature

LYNN – When Lynn resident Jonathan DeCosta first arrived on the campus of Bryant College in Smithfield, R.I. in 2008, the now-22-year-old said that one of the first things he noticed was a lack of support for the school’s gay community.Four years later, Bryant College has a resource center for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) community, staff trained to counsel LGBTQ students and the campus’ first gender-neutral housing.In May, a graduating DeCosta was honored by the Rhode Island government for his crucial work in making that happen.”There’s really been an about-turn by Bryant,” said DeCosta, a sociology and service learning major who plans to continue his studies at Boston University in advertising.DeCosta casually joined Bryant’s gay club as a freshman, “to see what the group was all about.”He then noticed many of his classmates were what he calls “closeted gays,” who didn’t feel welcome to come out with their sexuality.DeCosta attributed that to a largely homogeneous student population from rural towns who didn’t understand the gay culture.”It’s like a tough subject almost on Bryant’s campus,” DeCosta saidBut it wasn’t until his junior year, when DeCosta said he felt bullied by a roommate in on-campus housing because of his sexual orientation that his concerns for Bryant’s LGBTQ community turned into action.DeCosta applied for a housing re-assignment, but school officials denied him. So he took his demands to the school’s vice president, requesting instead that an entire dormitory be not restricted by gender, which he said would allow for transgenders, gays and lesbians to live more comfortably.”It became very personal to me,” he said. “I just felt (school officials) didn’t react in a proper way and there needed to be an option for students who did identify as gay or did have different gender identities to have an option to live with people of different genders; whoever they felt comfortable with.”Bryant Sociology Professor Judith McDonnell, an adviser for the Bryant Pride club, said DeCosta wouldn’t accept no for an answer because he believed he was arguing for the right side. And he was, she said.”He was in the morally, ethically right position,” she said.McDonnell said DeCosta’s passion for bringing gay rights to the forefront of the campus motivated a group of professors and staff to do the same. They formed an LGBTQ caucus, which in part trains staff members about how to talk with LGBTQ students about sensitive issues. They’re marked on campus by a rainbow paw, a twist on Bryant’s bulldog mascot.”Jonathan and his group motivated us to share some of the burden of social change,” she said.When school officials did finally agree to create gender-neutral housing – something only 1 in 300 campuses in the nation have, according to McDonnell – they also signed onto a longtime Bryant Pride initiative to put together a LGBTQ resource center.Suddenly a senior DeCosta found he had accomplished more than he had set out to.Rhode Island state Rep. Frank Ferri, a 1976 Bryant alumnus who ran for office as an openly gay candidate, took note.On May 10, he and the rest of the state’s House of Representatives awarded DeCosta a citation praising his work to help open Bryant College to the LGBTQ community.In an interview with The Daily Item, Ferri shared what it was like going to school there as an openly gay student more than 30 years ago, which he said was a drastic change from today, he said.”It was a scary time,” he said. “? There was nobody advocating on the part of diversity, and you felt alone, and you were afraid to reach out. You were afraid to open up because you didn’t know how the reaction was going to be.”He said students like DeCosta help Bryant College grow into a more accepting and healthy place for all students.”It helps people understand the (gay) lifestyle and not to be afraid,” he said. “Not to fear somebody just because they may be gay.”DeCosta doesn’t take all the credit for opening up Br