thehappycon
The campus newspaper, Student Life, refused to publish the following article.
I would like to express my gratitude to all those members of the Washington University Pride Alliance for the work they have done to make Washington University safe for those of non-straight gender description. I feel the social constraints to conform to the standard. Protection and understanding have never been more important than they are right now, and nowhere more necessary than at Washington University. Now is the time for education and love. Now is the time for freedom of expression and experimentation. Now is the time for Safe Zone stickers to help us escape this patriarchal conformist society and live in harmony with each other!
More can be done. Even today, even at Washington University, groups live under harsh and unfair persecution. Consider those who fulfill their carnal appetites with their friends in the animal kingdom. Why should they feel cornered by society, while the Pride Alliance has opened up recognition for so many other groups and orientations? This is outrage! Even on this campus, young students long to cross this artificial “species” gap to join with our ancestors and cousins. Who can say he or she has not felt the urge? Before only a gender gap existed; fraternization of like partners was strictly forbidden by society. Today’s fight is even larger. Before, to join with another man required bucking the pressures of society. Now, such pressure has finally been released. But what if the man was a bull? A goat? A kitten? The limitations on liberty astound. The religious right, Justice Alito, and George W. Bush suppress the freedom of people to associate with each other and with other animals whenever they like.
Now is the time to gather the herd and close this gap. We have won the battle for freedom of sexual orientation; marriage will be close behind. Now is the time to join with our friends of the hoof and wing to free species orientation. They cannot speak for themselves. We must be their advocates!
I challenge the Pride Alliance and other allied groups to answer the call of the wild. Now is the time, while we are flying high! Don’t let the opportunity ride away into the sunset. The Pride Alliance just recently renovated its suite in the Women’s Building, I challenge them to put their funds and room to good use. Lesbian, Gay, Genderqueer, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning, Intersex, Asexual. It is the goal of the Pride Alliance to advocate GLBTQIA-friendly public policies through activism and greater awareness, to educate the WU community about GLBTQIA issues, and to build a supportive social network for GLBTQIA students. How exclusive! They should be ashamed of themselves for their omission. Soon Zoophile shall be added to their ranks, and the world shall be set aright for all orientations! No longer will they live in fear of societal pressures. No longer will they be hindered by the traditional moral standards that have crushed the freedom of GLBTQIA people before them. Teeth will gnash and fur will fly, but I have no doubt that freedom will win the day. Thank you Pride Alliance!
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Campus Diversity, Gays
I am surprised Studlife refused to publish this satirical op-ed; it would have spurred an interesting dialogue on the role of morality and the reclassification of gender/sexual norms in our society.
No, it would have just been the subject of countless letters from misunderstanding students falling into two general categories: a) those who cry, “How dare you compare LBGQT’s to those who commit bestiality?” b) this whole awareness movement is “degrading our morals” and an utter waste of my time.
Both groups are misdirected. First, the op-ed, while satirical, alludes to this premise: by accepting LBGQT’s as equal to heterosexuals, we undermine the moral fiber of American society, leading to such obviously undesirable results as stamping bestiality with “approved.” The author makes a common logical fallacy, the slippery slope, implying that by removing one rivet, the whole bottom to our morality falls out. By seeking to integrate historically-repressed minorities into society, we do not abandon our own morals, but recognize that morality is subjective and the ultimate choice rests in the individual. Our duty is of noninterference.
On the other hand, there is value in reconfiguring a society incorrectly aligned to an exclusively heterosexual norm (of kings and queens, marriage, and segregation) as non-heterosexuals have existed, without any self-election, from time immemorial. While heterosexuals have written the history books, staffed the governments, and generally ran the show, the majority has no right to subject the minority to tyranny or mere inequality. Recognition of this is a valuable societal goal and worth some of our time.