Mason Abernathy is gay.

And he says he’s being harassed for it on his floor in Douglas Hall.

It started the night the freshman wore a skirt to late night pizza at Thomas Dining.

A couple of guys in the dining hall laughed obscenely at Abernathy.

When he left, he found them standing outside.

“I don’t know if they were waiting on me to leave, or what was going on, but they just stood there,” Abernathy, undecided major, said.

Outside, he said the students further teased him and his companions.

“They started talking about like (how) they were going to come over and beat us up, and how they could take us because I was just with a whole bunch of ‘faggots’ anyway,” he said. “It was just stupid, bullying crap.”

Abernathy said after that incident, he saw the guy who teased him several times and every time, he was insulted again.

Finally, he decided to take action.

“It got really bad one time when I was going to take a shower,” Abernathy said.

He was in his bathrobe when he walked out of his room and saw the same guy standing by the stairs.

Abernathy said he did not want to deal with being harassed, so he went straight to the bathroom.

“I jumped into the shower, and then the curtain opens behind me, and it’s him and a couple of his buddies trying to humiliate me,” he said.

Right after Abernathy got out of the shower, he went to his resident assistant, Moe Samab, directly.

Abernathy said he and his RA talked separately to the director of housing and dining, Mark Hudson, and another person in the Lincoln-Stevenson-Douglas office.

They all tried to help Abernathy identify the guy who had been harassing him, but were not able to come up with a vivid enough description.

Abernathy did not know what room he stayed in or what his name was.

“I don’t know what exactly they could have done beyond that,” he said.

After trying to identify the harasser, Abernathy decided to give up because he said it was not worth his time.

Since the shower incident and advisement from a counselor, Abernathy has tried to move out of his room at Douglas Hall without success.

He and a counselor discussed different ways to deal with the situation, and Abernathy decided he could either wait it out or move out of Douglas.

“If you think about it, the best way to resolve the situation is to remove yourself from the position,” Abernathy said.

However, not everyone on Abernathy’s floor wants him to leave.

Abernathy said some of the guys on his floor found out about him leaving and got upset.

“They tried to throw a little party and be like, ‘Oh, let’s save Mason,'” he said.

Abernathy was supposed to move into Weller Hall in October, but after he contacted the person who was supposed to be his new roommate and told him why he was moving, things did not work out.

Abernathy said he was told his potential roommate’s parents did not want “a gay” living with their son.

Abernathy is still living in Douglas.

“So, now, I’m trying to find some place to go because I can’t stand living in Douglas, and I’m not wanted in Weller,” Abernathy said. “So, I’m just kind of stuck.”

Hudson said his office takes these issues seriously and although he could not talk about specific incidents, he was aware of situations on campus in which people have felt harassed.

Hudson said first, a meeting is arranged with the individual who has been harassed in order to understand the situation and identify who has been doing the harassing.

Hudson said any time an antagonist needs to be identified, housing services has the person with the concern meet with whomever is in charge of the antagonist’s building.

“They (the harassers) would talk about the situation, and in a residence hall, everybody comes home eventually,” Hudson said.

Hudson said housing staff will help identify the person through various methods, such as paying attention to what room the person goes to at night, and checking up on what time the person goes to the dining center.

Hudson said his office can also look up people’s Panther Card transactions and find out who ate where at what time.

Luckily for Abernathy, he said what has been ongoing harassment since he moved in has settled down about three or four weeks ago.

Abernathy has had 10 roommates since his emancipation from his parents.

Of those 10, six have been female.

“I’m one of those people – one of those gays – that has mostly female friends, too,” Abernathy said.

He said it is easier for him to live with females.

Abernathy said such a thing like gender-neutral housing would benefit him.

“But it puts the campus in an awkward position because they can’t just stick guys in the same rooms with girls and expect them to act like me,” he said.

Hudson said making gender-neutral housing a part of the university depends on the “customers” of Eastern, but, right now, the want for gender-neutral housing is not there.

Hudson said he could not see Eastern making a major shift like providing gender-neutral housing or bathrooms any time soon.

“We respond to the needs of our customers, and the way in which we’re providing our services right now is getting very good reviews from our customers,” Hudson said.