Alumni from Langley's Trinity Western University are taking the stage in North Vancouver this Sunday sharing stories of what it was like to be a queer student at a Christian campus.
Gay on God’s Campus will feature nine alumni sharing both their own experiences but also other students they interviewed to reflect navigating faith and identity in the university space.
Dark Glass Theatre partnered with One TWU, an independent non-profit who supports and advocates for 2SLGBTQ+ students and alumni of the university. Experiences vary from the thrill of a secret crush, the risk and fear of being “outed” on campus, and “homoerotic hazing culture in dorms.”
Trinity Western University alumni Matthew Wigmore is one of the people who shared his story in the play.
“It was really alienating to feel like not only were you different than everyone else, but that your existence was up for debate and people didn’t necessarily want you around,” Wigmore said, reflecting on his time at TWU. “I felt like a lot of the programs on campus were geared towards people who weren’t like me, and almost to the exclusion of me.”
Wigmore said his experience at the university was positive in the classroom but the opposite in social settings. He studied theatre and gender studies at TWU between 2012 to 2016.
During this time, debates arose around whether the university should have a law school.
“The debate then was around can Trinity have a law school or not? Should Trinity be able to have a law school when it has this discriminatory community covenant and against LGBT folks?” said Wigmore, who co-founded One TWU during his time at the university.
The university’s covenant forbid students from having sex outside heterosexual marriage. The proposed law school made it to the Supreme Court of Canada, with the court ruling against the university in June 2018, citing the "degrading and disrespectful" covenant. Other issues have arisen, such as the university denying permission for a group of 2SLGBTQ+ people to hold a storytelling event on campus.
As legal battles and the ruling made the news, it sparked discussion of what experiences were like for those in the 2SLGBTQ+ community, Wigmore said, eventually leading to the idea for the play.
Wigmore said he hopes Gay on God’s Campus will open people’s minds about some of the challenges students face, while also encouraging people to continue to be inclusive.
“I hope this show gives people the impetus to push back on that and just see how important it is to continue moving forward,” Wigmore said. “Even for us as a group, in our own stories, how moving forward has really been key to our survival and community building.”
Lydia Forssander-Song, an assistant professor teaching English at TWU and a North Shore resident, says its powerful and brave that alumni are bringing these stories to light.
“For me, Gay on God’s Campus is born out of unfortunately familiar conditions of silencing, division, isolation and shaming right in a Christian setting where ‘doing justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly’ are publicly stated values that we have on banners on the campus,” she said.
Forssander-Song joined the Dark Glass Theatre’s board of directors after she was asked to share a story about her mother around Mother’s Day last year.
“That’s what Dark Glass Theatre does, it allows people to tell their stories in these safe settings, and there’s interaction between the audience and the storytellers after so it’s not just a one-way conversation,” she said. “I’m really excited for the production coming up this weekend.”
After the show there will be a “talkback” where the audience can meet the cast, ask questions and reflect on the play. Globe and Mail journalist Andrea Woo will be the talkback host for North Vancouver.
Gay on God’s Campus will take place at The Pipe Shop on Sunday, March 30 from 7:30 to 10 p.m. Tickets are $25 on the Dark Glass Theatre’s website.
The show will also be at the Fort Langley Community Hall on March 28 and the Abbotsford Community Arts Addition on March 29 at the same time.
Abby Luciano is the Indigenous and civic affairs reporter for the North Shore News. This reporting beat is made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative.
https://bsky.app/profile/abbyluciano.bsky.social
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