OSU professor discusses the Dalai Lama incident Second Chance Prom Giving LGBTQ+ students another shot

Olivia Lane Staff Reporter

Twenty years ago, Larry Burns couldn’t go to prom with his boyfriend.

This year, he is helping students who went through the same thing get a second chance.

Oklahoma State Queers and Allies will host the Second Chance Prom. The event is for people in the LGBTQ+ community and will allow them to bring who they really want.

Burns, the Chair of the Employee Queers and Allies League, said he believes this event is a great chance for students to experience prom in an open and accepting environment. He wishes that he could have had the same.

“Being able to live a life free from the judgment of bigots is a great thing,” Burns said.

High school can be a difficult time for many. Going through adolescence can cause confusion and insecurity, along with juggling the many tasks that school brings. For those who struggle with their sexual or gender identity, things can be even more difficult. For this reason, many students prom experiences were uncomfortable, if they went.

One student, who wishes to remain anonymous, remembers how their family made them feel about the LGBTQ+ community.

“I didn’t really get to have any kind of self-discovery or really question and explore how I felt until college,” the student said. “My family has always demonized the LGBTQ+ community.”

Being in college has allowed this student to embrace their true self, which is the intention of LGBTQ+ resources on campus. This student identifies as gender fluid currently, though they are still exploring their identity. They are excited to dress how they want to at the event.

“When I saw the event, I immediately started looking for a suit or a more gender-neutral formal set,” the student said.

One of the aims of the event is to show support for LGBTQ+ students, as is the goal of all other LGBTQ+ resources and events on campus. Burns wants to advocate for as many people as possible.

“The lives of many queers are greatly expanded when they are fully accepted for who they love or how they present,” Burns said.

The excitement of the students’ planning to attend illustrates the importance of events like these.

“With everything going on right now, people need to be reminded that staying true to their fullest self and having pride in who they are is, and always will be, a good thing,” the student said.

The Second Chance Prom will take place on April 28 at Old Central. It will be from 7-9 p.m. LGBTQ+ and allies are welcome to attend and make new memories.

The Dalai Lama caught the public’s attention with a disturbing video circulating the internet.

On Feb. 28, a young boy asked his Holiness the Dalai Lama if he could give him a hug, prompting the boy to come up to the platform where he sat. After leaning heads in to pay his respects, the Dalai Lama proceeded to kiss the boy and ask the child to suck his tongue. This incident received a ton of backlash.

Glen Fairen, a teaching assistant in religious studies at OSU, is not a religious man, but holds a wide range of knowledge on differing religions.

Fairen explained the Dalai Lama is the key figure for Tibetan Buddhism, which isn’t necessarily the biggest sect of Buddhism.

“It’s sort of like Christianity, there is various protestant denominations and he is of a denomination that just happens to be based out of Tibet,” Fairen said. “His role in the ‘50s was when he was coordinated. He was both the leader of their tradition, but also their ruler, the monarch of Tibet. They were overthrown by the Chinese government, he went into exile. And the idea is the Dalai Lama’s are reincarnated as both the spiritual and temporal rulers of Tibet or the Tibetan people so his role is actually very significant for people in Tibet.”

A common practice in Tibetan culture is tongue greetings, which is where the believer stick out their tongue to show respect or agreement. It can be argued that this is what the Dalai Lama was doing, instead of being inappropriate toward the boy. Having knowledge of this tradition puts the incident in a new perspective for certain individuals.

“It is really weird because he is very playful in his interviews,” Fairen said.

“He is weirdly funny and kind of this goof and there’s something quite human about him that way. And I wonder if it was a playful gesture that just was incredibly inappropriate, just had a brain fart or something. I don’t know, because he doesn’t have a history of this kind of thing.”

The Catholic church has been under heat for a while in regards to abusing children, and ignoring themes of pedophillia in an incident like this could be dangerous.

Fairen said that some people who are Buddhists might feel like they need to defend the actions of the Dalai Lama because it is reflective on them in some way, but that is not the case.

“Without getting into the academic weeds, I can’t define religion,” Fairen said.

“I can’t tell you what it is. Because it’s not that there isn’t such a thing as religion, but there are things that are religious. I think for some people, it can bring good motivations for things and it can also do bad. I think there is something very comforting for people with religion. Like I’ve seen folks who are sick, who find comfort in that and I think that’s lovely.”

The Dalai Lama’s office published an apology saying only that the boy, who was not identified, had asked the spiritual leader if he could give him a hug, making no reference to the kiss or the extended tongue. It said that the Dalai Lama’s actions were lighthearted.