Having spent part of my weekend at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, I cannot help but bring back to UK the lurid tales of homosexual rebellion I bore witness to following its Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual Awareness Week.
If students at UK think we have it bad with Lambda and company, wait until you hear what Miami students have had to deal with in response to their small, but militant, homosexual insurgents.
In Oxford, the gay community not only revels in the legal protection afforded their homosexual promiscuity, but likes to tell the world what's up after the lights go down. The gays there have used extreme tactics to rub their sexuality in the faces of an otherwise complacent academic community.
On crossing the border into the Bluegrass State, I went straight to the hardware store to buy a hammer and nails. For if we don't nail the closet doors shut soon, we too, may face similar problems.
Gay professors, staff and students, at Miami, took out an advertisement in the Miami Student, that school's campus newspaper, with a list of names under the following statement: "We the undersigned are gay, lesbian and bisexual students, staff and faculty who refuse to be restricted by society's prejudices."
The ad came as part of Miami's Gay and Lesbian Awareness Week antics. The ad featured their gay pride slogan, "Red, White and Queer." It also contained a brief explanation of what "coming out of the closet" is, blaming society's negative reaction to homosexuality on a "heterosexist and homophobic" attitude. It had more to do with disgust than fear.
I have always believed it was because of the disgusting thoughts associated with two men or women sodomizing each other in bed.
The Miami queers (to use their own definition) built a wood closet near the Student Center and symbolically came out of it. They also declared a certain day in which students could support the gay position by wearing blue jeans (As if this is a true indication of anything other than the cool March weather.)
Some at Miami decided it was time to put an end to this silliness as the gay community went from the sheets to the streets with their message of exposing their sexual preference before the world.
The Miami University College Republicans President Carrie Coogan decided that if gays were allowed to prance around with their message of how great homosexuality was, she could tell the darker side in an equally vocal manner. The College Republicans put up signs designed like Ohio license plates which read "H82BGAY," (Hate to be gay.) They also put up fliers telling students not to wear jeans on the designated sympathy day and instead told students to wear shirts if they disagreed with homosexuality. In effect, they gave the gays a dose of their own medicine.
The difference between both forms of protected speech is that one is usually followed by hurt feelings and apology demands, but Coogan offers no apologies for her actions.
"In the past the sexual alliance has done things that I've been offended by - no one ever apologized to me for their offensive acts," she said.
These acts include "Kiss-ins," and advertisements publicizing "Live Homosexual Acts," with fliers depicting men performing various lewd acts posted on campus landmarks, not to mention the most recent antics.
Gay advocates became even more outraged when the infamous sidewalk chalk writers lashed out and wrote, "Save the Gerbils" and other anti-gay slogans on campus sidewalks.
The reaction from all of this controversy is that the gay community claims they are being targeted as victims of unequal protection from their opposition. However, the university disagrees having stated that neither group has broken any laws in voicing their opinions.
The bigger picture reveals how wimpy the gay community can be in accepting criticism of their actions. They would do well to learn from the heterosexual community that when you publicize your promiscuity in the bedroom you will be judged.
I do not feel the need to take out an ad declaring I'm heterosexual and enjoy sex with women. I also do not feel the need to distribute photos of me expressing my love for a female. Why must homosexuals make the goings-on in their bedrooms public knowledge?
Homosexuals can do whatever turns them on within the confines of their bedrooms, but when they make a public proclamation of what they do and how they do it, they shouldn't bitch when people look at them funny.
Staff Columnist Joe Braun is a political science senior.
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