The independent student newspaper of Northeastern University

The Huntington News

The independent student newspaper of Northeastern University

The Huntington News

The independent student newspaper of Northeastern University

The Huntington News

Same-sex in the city

Entering a massive room, men are shirtless dancing on lounge tables and gyrating next to other men.

Women normally dance with friends at a club, but there is something undeniably sexual in the frenzied and lustful motions emanating from women dancing with other women.

This is a typical view from the top of the stairs leading to the dance floor at Embassy on Thursday night, the club’s gay hip-hop night.

A Diana Ross look-a-like dressed in drag has graced the stage for an impromptu performance of Ciara’s “Goodies.”

The air seeps with something, it isn’t necessarily desperation, but more of a need to find someone else.

For sophomore political science major Danny Najaf, it is one of only a few places he goes for a good time, and, potentially, more.

He and many other gay students who go to the club are not necessarily looking for a relationship then and there, but to be part of a community where they feel comfortable.

“Usually when I go [to the club] I just go to meet people and have a good time,” he said.

A native of Salt Lake City, Utah, a community he called “tight-knit and conservative,” Najaf said Embassy is emblematic of much of Boston. He finds it easier to meet potential partners here than it was at home, simply because there are more options.

“With a lot of people who go there I see them in classes and I see them around campus,” he said. “There are more places to go and more people to meet in general.”

Along with San Francisco, Boston is typically identified as one of the most liberal locales in America in terms of sexuality.

According to the most recent numbers from the “Gay and Lesbian Atlas,” a book of statistics about the homosexual community, 10 Boston-area ZIP codes were among the highest populations of gay couples in the country.

Two years ago, Boston was the launching pad for one of the most ground-shaking shifts in U.S. cultural history when the state’s Supreme Judicial Court ruled gay marriage legal.

That feeds down to the dating community as well.

With many gay college students arriving at Northeastern feeling isolated from their life as one of only a few out people in high school, the community bond can be an unusual surprise.

Hillary Boone, a native of Sutton, Vt., said there are more gay people at NU than she expected.

“When I came out I thought I was the only one,” Boone said. “You can definitely go out at night on campus and just be surrounded by gay kids.”

NUBiLAGA, the student group on campus that describes itself as “a student organization at Northeastern for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning and Straight students,” is another resource for many gay students looking for community.

They meet at 6 p.m. every Thursday in 440 Curry Student Center to discuss issues about dating, harassment and whatever other issues may come up.

Boone, who is a co-chairperson of the group, said the homosexual dating scene is fairly similar to the heterosexual one at NU.

“It’s not that we’re all gay, it’s just we identify as ‘non-straight,'” said Boone, a middler environmental geology and political science major. “I’ve never had a negative experience at Northeastern. Everyone is really accepting, but there are people who do deal with harassment.”

Katherine Palermino, the public relations representative for NUBiLAGA, said dating as a homosexual “kind of sucks” because there are less overall people to choose from.

While some date casually, others, like middler psychology major Natalie Brzoski, are in long-term relationships.

Comfortable in a three-year relationship, she said she prefers a more relaxed atmosphere.

But there are still plenty of homosexual-specific places in Boston for her to hang out, she said.

“[My girlfriend and I] knew each other before college and now we’ve been dating for over three years,” said Brzoski, a Chicago native.

Though Brzoski is a self-proclaimed “non-clubber,” she said that a great place to just go hang out is Diesel, a caf

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