“This Reflection isn’t about pointing fingers and saying every one of you in this crowd is the issue, and it’s not about saying Haverford isn’t a great place. It’s about educating and disarming in order to build a needed bridge between two vastly disjointed communities.”
Fifth Former Aaron Bonaparte was one of the first students of the 2023-24 school year to deliver a Reflection, which was met with a standing ovation. But how have Bonaparte’s statements on homophobia at the school been received? Has there been any pushback? Do people disagree with what was said?
“I think it was awesome,” Fifth Former Cameron Esposito said. “He reflected a lot on himself, and I think the points he had to say were extremely valid.”
Fifth Former Harry Koenig agrees.
“I agree that there’s problems that may need to be addressed. I totally see what he was saying,” Koenig said.
It’s better to address these instances now with members of the GSA than carrying implicit biases and homophobia into adult life.
However, some students have had negative experiences surrounding the reflection.
“[Some people were] generally not taking it too seriously. People were going out of their way to make jokes about microaggressions and what is a microaggression and what isn’t,” Fifth Form GSA event coordinator, Cameron Ward, said. “I have had weird interactions with people coming up to me and my friends asking me when we turned gay.”
While these instances might not arise with intent to harm others, they can still be harmful. But as Bonaparte said in his Reflection, it’s better to address these instances now with members of the GSA than carrying implicit biases and homophobia into adult life.
The consensus seems to be that Aaron’s reflection was well received by both the individual and the community. While there was some pushback on the topics discussed, most agree that the speech was well delivered.
