There have been many opinion pieces in the Daily this semester which painfully exhibit the writer’s ignorance of, and hostility toward, ethnic, religious, and political minority groups. Robert Zeis’ piece about National Coming Out Day is yet another of these.

I would like you to know that there ARE religious organizations which approve of same gender unions/marriages, OR who’s clergy perform them because their religious group has left the decision up to individual clergy or has not yet taken an official stand on the subject. Some of these are The Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, the United Church of Christ, the Friends (Quakers), Episcopalians and Reformed Jewish congregations.

You should also know that transvestites, which you lumped in with lesbians, gay men, and bisexual people, are those who like to dress in clothing typically associated with the other gender and are often heterosexual men. Perhaps you aren’t aware that the “T” in L/G/B/T stands for Transgender, a term for all those who do not conform to the traditional understanding of labels like gay, lesbian, heterosexual, male, or female.

Finally, I invite you to seriously consider what it is like to be on the receiving end of violence and relentless discrimination — if you did, you might understand the anger that SOME activists express. Like you, I don’t especially appreciate loud, angry rhetoric, but I do understand where many activists are coming from: They have had the dominant social group cramming opinions down their throats for many, many years, and have found that they must continually shout in an attempt to claim the most basic of human rights for themselves.

You did have the chance to speak with some extremely “calm, rational” L/G/B/T folks last week, yet I did not see you at any of the NCOD events…were you there? If you were not and would still like to understand the L/G/B/T experience, you have the opportunity to do so. The I.S.U. Alliance (a L/G/B/T/Allied group on campus) can provide Speakers Bureaus to classes, residence hall associations and other organizations.

You can call the Alliance or Student Services for an opportunity to understand or at least to learn from L/G/B/T people BEFORE you pass final judgement on every single one of us.

Carol Ann Rogers

Senior

French/English Literature