Gays in fraternites (pt. 2)

[bowsandtoes]

Originally Posted by macallan25

Buddy, homosexuality is a sin according to the bible....or did you overlook that whole part about marriage, sex, what is natural, etc. etc. I'm certainly not saying I'm completely free of sins, but you can't sit here and call people "fools" for not being openly accepting of homosexuals if, in fact, they are Christians.

I can't speak for anyone else, but homosexuality doesn't make me "nervous" at all. I wouldn't be voting against you being in my house out of fear or something similar. I would be voting against you because the probability of you meshing well with our group of guys is probably very small. The fact that homosexuality is something that many, many members of our house morally object to is going to play a role as well.

On a similar note, I hate how anyone that doesn't openly embrace a homosexual lifestyle is labeled as "homophobic". There's a huge difference between fearing something and being disgusted by it. Insinuating that someone who dislikes homosexuals has some sort of moral flaw is essentially playing the same card as people who dislike homosexuals because they view it as immoral. Get off your high horse. You can be gay all you want, but not in my fraternity, my church, or my circle of friends.

In the past week or so the campus newspaper has been trying to make a big issue of gay faculty wanting health benefits for their partners. Regardless of whether the majority of students want this (which is up for debate), its completely outside the jurisdiction of the school. The university if funded by the Texas State legislature who have final say over basically everything. If the school tries to make an issue of this and fight the legislature its just going to hurt the school (not that the gay community cares about that).

[breathesgelatin]

Originally Posted by bowsandtoes

In the past week or so the campus newspaper has been trying to make a big issue of gay faculty wanting health benefits for their partners. Regardless of whether the majority of students want this (which is up for debate), its completely outside the jurisdiction of the school. The university if funded by the Texas State legislature who have final say over basically everything. If the school tries to make an issue of this and fight the legislature its just going to hurt the school (not that the gay community cares about that).

If you read the newspaper regularly, you'd realize it's not gay faculty who've been pushing for it as much as heterosexual grad students (specifically one, who decided to write a proposal on this) who are politically aware. The was the one faculty member who in Middle Eastern Studies (I think) who did the hunger strike last semester to raise awareness of the issue and the campaign has been proposed & carried by grad students ever since. The article in the Texan on Friday focused on faculty perspectives but the initial move to have a vote on this in the senate of college councils was led by grad students.

I'm not really sure how it is going to hurt the school. Our current policy is already hurting us in terms of faculty recruitment and retention. That said, I'm also not sure how successful the campaign can be given the strictures put on by the legislature.

[DSTRen13]

My pledge ed (OPhiA) was a lesbian. No one cared. But that was the nature of our particular chapter.

If you're going to join an organization where your [insert issue - gender, race, disability, religion, whatever the heck your deal is - here] is going to raise eyebrows, plus some tempers, then you just need to accept that upfront and go in aware and prepared to handle it. If you CANNOT HANDLE IT, then either choose another organization or stay away entirely. None of us needs your whiny drama.