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Heterosexual Correctness
by John K. Wilson
Perhaps no group is more persecuted on college campuses than gay, lesbian, and bisexual faculty and students. Deprived of protection under the law, and banned by many colleges, gays and lesbians are still fighting for the right to equality. Many of the same people who condemn "political correctness" are silent about attacks on the rights of gays and lesbians, or are leading the campaign for homophobia.
While fewer gays and lesbians are closeted than in the past and discrimination is less severe than it once was, coming out is still a risk to a teacher's career. Formal discrimination against gay and lesbian faculty has not been eliminated. The worst offenders are religious institutions, but homophobia persists at many secular colleges.
In July 1994, openly lesbian poet Nuala Archer was removed as director of the Cleveland State University Poetry Center after she sponsored a national poetry contest for "all lesbian poets of color" that was funded by a $5,635 grant from the Women's Community Foundation. Her critics claim the firing was due to her poor administration of the Poetry Center. But David Evert of the Poetry Center committee noted, "My only concern was that the last thing we wanted was to have something coming out of CSU that was potentially controversial without some sort of warning." Even if Archer's administrative skills were questionable, the fear of something "controversial" was clearly the major factor in her dismissal. (Cleveland Plain-Dealer, 8/9/94)
At the Montana College of Mineral Science and Technology, English professor Henry Gonshak proposed a summer course on "gay and lesbian studies." A fundamentalist pastor in a local church wrote a letter to the newspaper protesting the class title. Gonshak reports, "the alumni soon began besieging Tech administrators with letters and telephone calls. They threatened to withdraw thousands of dollars in contributions unless the class was dropped." (Democratic Culture, Spring 1995)
Students supporting gay and lesbian rights are also heavily regulated. Administrators at many colleges encourage homophobia by banning gay and lesbian student groups and in some cases by making homosexuality grounds for expulsion. In 1993, the student government at St. John's University banned the Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Alliance for being inconsistent with the institution's religious values, a day after the student group returned from a national march on Washington for gay rights. The administration refused to overturn the decision. (New York Times, 5/13/93) Gay and lesbian student groups have also been banned at Notre Dame, Boston College, and several other campuses.
In 1994, administrators at Stephen F. Austin State University overturned a student government's decision to ban a gay and lesbian student group from campus and revoke its funding because "a group that advocates breaking the law shouldn't be getting student fees." (Dallas Morning Star, 11/10/94) In 1991, Auburn's student government refused to charter the Auburn Gay and Lesbian Alliance. After administrators approved the group under threat of an ACLU lawsuit, Alabama passed a law unanimous against using public funds or facilities to support a group that "promotes a lifestyle or actions" prohibited by state sodomy laws. Auburn University requested all student groups to sign a promise not to encourage violations of the state's sodomy law. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 10/21/92, 8/16/94)
When gay and lesbian activities are supported at public universities, state legislators often intervene and threaten funding. At Indiana University, plans to spend $50,000 on an Office of Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Student Support Services were scrapped after a state legislator threatened to cut $500,000 from the university's budget and a wealthy alumnus threatened to withhold a million dollar donation. Instead, the support center will be renamed the Office of Student Ethics and Anti-Harassment Office, and will be funded by private donations. (Campus Report, November 1994)
At Kent State University, the College Republicans protested allowing a class on the sociology of gays and lesbians to be taught, arguing that offering the class to students was tantamount to University sanctioning of the gay lifestyle. In 1993, before the course was ever taught, an Ohio state senator wrote to Kent State President Carol Cartwright, threatening to cut state funding if it was permitted. (Campus Report, November 1994) The interference of state legislators in university affairs poses a dramatic threat to academic freedom, particularly when their goal is to silence gays and lesbians.
[Excerpted with permission from Democratic Culture, the newsletter of Teachers for a Democratic Culture, Fall 1995.]