To the Editor:
What I am trying to do as a member of DRA is to inform the campus of the big picture. Voces Clamantium is bringing a speaker to campus to give her personal story. Sounds innocent, right? What has not been told is that Yvette is not just some woman telling her story. Yvette does not simply represent herself in this discussion. Yvette works for the Family Research Council. She is an activist for a national organization with a national agenda. She represents a group that spreads false rhetoric, such as homosexuals target children and homosexuals are the cause of AIDS, under the name of religion. I respect her religious beliefs, but let's label it as just that. Yvette's discussion is a religious agenda masked as an academic discussion. She has the right to speak, but knowing the truth of who she represents is important for presenting an "open" discussion. Thus far, the only discussion that Voces Clamantium has offered is a discussion against blind faith. There is no discussion when anything one party says is dismissed by the other claiming religious right. Voces Clamantium denied the offer to have GLBTQ Christians speak, not because they felt that not every discussion needed a rebuttal, but because they felt that "gays and lesbians 'claiming' to be Christian did not fit their worldview." They stopped the chance for an open discussion with a claim of superior religious views.
Voces Clamantium wants people to hear an opinion not often voiced in public. Why should it be voiced publicly when it is voiced privately everyday? When this opinion comes to the public sphere, it becomes dangerous for GLBTQ people. The organization and opinion Yvette represents gives people the excuse to hate. When this kind of speech is voiced, people too often claim the right of popular opinion or religion to discriminate and stop taking responsibility for their actions. This is why I don't want Yvette on campus. I'm afraid of what happens when misinformed homophobic people get reinforced through public approval of their beliefs. I'm afraid of the power this kind of speech gives other people to discriminate against me. Gays and lesbians, as well as other minorities, have been killed under such "divine right." Religion is not an excuse, and religion targeting a minority population on this campus is dangerous and unacceptable.
