I was very unhappy to pick up a copy of the Daily on Friday and find a picture of two men kissing in the Reverse Campaniling ceremony. I found it very distasteful to put this picture on the front page of the paper, or anywhere else in the paper for that matter. One reason for my distaste and disgust, to be honest, is that I am not comfortable with gay people in general. That doesn’t mean that I don’t think they have a right to live without persecution. Everyone in this world has a right to live without being persecuted against.

What I don’t understand, from the Daily’s point of view, is why we get to see this picture. When Mass Campaniling happens at Homecoming, there is no picture from it put on the front page of the Daily — at least not one that I can remember. I mean, it is only fair if we are going to put a picture on representing LGBT awareness that we put a picture on the front page representing heterosexual awareness. But this seems absurd to everyone, because those who are heterosexual are the majority — at least I think we are. With more and more of these movements going on, I begin to wonder if that is still true.

To me, this picture served no purpose other than to shock people. If it was supposed to make me more aware or open to these people, it didn’t work. I can’t speak for everyone on campus, but it didn’t work to make me more open-minded. In fact, if it did anything, it made me more close-minded. I felt more adamant in my views against the LGBT community than before.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to blame LGBT for the picture. It’s not their fault that the Daily made an erroneous choice in how to cover the LGBTAA week. The LGBT made it known around campus that the Reverse Campaniling was going to happen, and if you didn’t want to see it, you didn’t have to.

You were not forced to go by the Campanile and see the whole thing. But the Daily made the choice for all of us on campus that we must see this picture.

I feel the Daily might have opened my mind up some more if they had printed articles on this being LGBTAA week, or had printed an article on the reaction and debate across campus about the Reverse Campaniling.

I see no reason for any picture of this sort to be on the front page of the paper, whether it be a heterosexual or homosexual couple.

Chad M. Pacha

Sophomore

Chemistry

Editor’s note: The Iowa State Daily ran six articles covering Awareness Week 1998. We also published two graphics listing the events, dates and times of Awareness Week.