According to Kathryn Willgus (C'16), co-president of Spectrum, "The week went better than I anticipated. The events were well-attended and not just by the folks who are regularly involved with Spectrum." However, there's still a lot more to National Coming Out Day that Willgus wished she had been able to emphasize. "Looking back on it, I wish I could have done more in recognizing that coming out is extremely difficult and talking about the reasons that some people choose to wait longer than others, or some that don't want to come out at all. Coming out is hard and not every person is going to necessarily want or need a national holiday to enable them to come out. But even if just one person feels empowered and supported by our solidarity and celebration of the coming out experience -- that's why we do what we do."

VOL has reported on the sexual hijinks of this allegedly and professedly Christian university over the years, but it is clear that is following the bell curve of the national Episcopal Church in matters of faith and morals.

In late October, the university held SEX WEEK with a "Let's talk about it, Sewanee" theme. Included was a screening of "How to Lose Your Virginity" with sex auxiliary talks titled "Sex Positivity" and "Justice in Bed: Sex at Sewanee".

Other "lectures" included, "It's your Sex Life: Healthy sexuality and you; Queer Sex: A dialogue by and for the Queer Community and Queer Consent: A conversation".

To drive the point home, discussion was initiated on addressing Sewanee's immunity to change, a conversation about changing Sewanee's culture around gender and consent, facilitated by a Dean Hartman.

More lectures included such things as IUDs, Implants and Pills, Oh My! And finally Radical Self Love, celebrating and conversation promoting self love surrounding sex, our bodies, and sexual orientation and talking about different methods of contraception, condom giveaway and sharing professional knowledge and peer experiences.

The "Justice in Bed" talks, program designed to explore the cultural and moral implications of the hook-up culture of Sewanee and today's world, Lam Ho, a writer with "Sewanee Purple" noted.

A seminarian at the School of Theology, Sarah Miller, wanted a safe place for these conversations to occur. While some conversations revolve around religion, she said she wanted hers to encompass the differing views of sex and the most comfortable way to navigate the sexual realm.

Miller said she was inspired by her undergraduate experience at Sewanee. During her four years here, she says she found herself with one script for navigating sex on the Domain. She was also faced with the question of sexual violence and how culture plays a part in it. "I heard more and more about the awful things that had gone on, on campus, and I felt helpless. For 'Justice in Bed', the mission is all about creating a healthier sex culture at Sewanee," she says.

"Ideally, people will walk away with a working vision of the kind of 'sex life' that they want. I say 'working vision' because I don't think the goal is for someone to arrive at the answer or the finish line and never revisit that again. We're always growing and changing our minds and beliefs, and that affects everything. So I hope people go to the program and come out saying, 'I have some sense of who I am and how all of those best parts of myself and how these things influence what I'm gonna do in bed with other people,'" said Miller.

This past summer proved to be a monumental season for Sewanee and All Saints' Chapel, as two alumna Kathryn Kendrick and her partner, Eva Walton, had their marriage blessed in All Saints' Chapel, following a lengthy and complex deliberation by the University's leaders.

To support the couple, Kendrick's former roommate, Hayley Robb Brantley created a group called "Rethink This, Sewanee". The group's Facebook page quickly expanded to more than 2,600 members that peacefully rallied behind Kendrick and Walton's efforts to approve same-sex marriage blessings at All Saints'. University Chaplain and Dean of All Saints' Chapel, Reverend Tom Macfie noted, "We tried to listen to all opinions, and we respect them. Our focus was to be true to the policies of the University, the direction of the Episcopal Church and the laws of the state of Tennessee."

After continued consideration, Sewanee granted Kendrick and Walton's request to have their relationship blessed in the University chapel. Rethink This. Sewanee held a follow up event called "Behold How Good". In order for civil union blessings to occur in Episcopal churches and chapels, the denomination had to approve a new liturgy, which came to pass in December 2012. This liturgy allowed for blessings of same-sex marriages, even in states where gay marriage is illegal, such as Tennessee.

The Sewanee Parents Council, which serves in an advisory capacity for the University, apparently sees nothing wrong with any of this. "Our goal is to build up the connections between the constituency of parents and Sewanee, and to support the University's mission of providing our sons and daughters with a superior undergraduate experience, wrote Gail and Dean Rushton. They hope to raise generous gifts from Sewanee families to the tune of $3.7 million "to help Sewanee continue to grow as an incomparable place of higher learning."

One wonders if the parents of these students really know what is going on at Sewanee, how their money is being spent or what they are being taught about The Faith and Biblical morality.

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