Letters to the editor

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Got art?

It seems to me that there are many areas of campus that are very boring. Then other parts of campus, like the new library and the Computer Science Building, have all sorts of cool things to look at. It bothers me that most of the hallways are either quite bare or have lots of advertisements, so I propose we set up more areas around campus that would allow students and local artist to showcase their works. This wouldn’t be expensive. We would only need to make display areas for the art so that it could be displayed.

Please understand: I am not speaking against those posters and advertisements for the upcoming sports games and lectures. These activities need to be voiced to the student body. However, these advertisements are the most prominent things I see on campus.

Going to other campuses in any state you will find random art everywhere, but at our university we find ourselves playing catch up. There is hope with the new art displays and galleries in the library, but I think as a university we can do better to create spaces for art. We have many students who, I’m afraid, walk our halls without the opportunity to see any message except for one from PlusMan. If art areas were made, we could have PlusMan right next to a piece of art.

Ben Gerald

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I am also Gay, but I believe there are benefits to having same-sex marriage. I realize it is undeniably important to have personal strength in an unequal system and to emphasize specific legal rights, but the influences of prejudice and discrimination reach past the details of laws. These laws dehumanize Gays and Trans-Gens by designating us as essentially different, and we reinforce those ideas by conceding to any law that labels us as “others” or keeps our issues separate.

Acceptance is key because we can only gain our rights through the votes of Supreme Court Justices or our peers. We have difficult lives in large part because most of society doesn’t accept us, and this social majority creates these discriminatory laws. But aside from material restrictions, these laws constantly suggest that we are sub-human –incapable of love, religion, or a respectable code of ethics.

Although the range of Gay and Trans-Gen beliefs are vast and this diversity deserves respect, when we assume stereotypical roles, we often hurt ourselves and those around us and allow this charade of prejudice to continue. Generalizations are then used to sway voters, and we are kept from our rights. I believe that in places like California, communities are recognizing us as people. But the distinction between civil unions and marriages will still convey our inequality and contribute to the damaged state of our communities.

For every Gay or Trans-Gen strong enough to handle the discrimination, there is another whom it ruins. After handling my own pain, and seeing the damage inflicted on the people of our community because of our misunderstood circumstances, I can’t imagine any solution other than the complete removal of these damaging rulings of law and society. With so much at stake, I believe any Gay or Trans-Gen who doesn’t personally need “marriage” should still fight for it for the benefit of others.

-Anthony Christensen

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The foot, though not the hand, is still part of the body. Gay, straight; black, brown, white; tall, short; fat, skinny; male, female; aren’t we all human beings?

Since we’re all human, we should all have the same rights and privileges.

The Bible reads, “[God] maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye?”

According to the Bible, God does not segregate — even murderers, child molesters, spouse abusers and such all receive sunshine and rain.

Someone that’s afraid to let another variation of love in for any type of fear does not know of the magic of love. The more you share, the more you receive. Let me repeat the biblical phrase — if we love everyone, what is our reward? We will be loved back, which is what everyone should want. People will do anything it takes to get some form of love and attention.

What is so wrong about love, whether between a heterosexual couple or a homosexual couple? It is still love.

The Bible says many things, but the most important is probably, “Love thy neighbor as thyself.”

I find it bizarre that a simple and good statement can become twisted and corrupted for another’s gain. It doesn’t say, “Love thy neighbor as thyself — as long as he is not gay, black or female.”

I propose to do unto your neighbor as you would want him/her to do unto you, And this would mean supporting “no” on Proposition 8, which recently passed in California.

The Mormons have forgotten about the separation of church and state. America was founded by Puritans wanting freedom of religion. They wanted to believe what they wanted without chastisement of their beliefs. Don’t we all want that?

Just because your favorite ice cream is strawberry should I feel that way too? I should be able to like chocolate, if that’s what I really like. The same goes for religious or sexual preference. Just because a person feels this way or that, doesn’t make one or the other right. It means we should have the freedom to choose what we like. As for the Mormons against this, I guarantee you’ve never had a loved one or best friend that was gay.

Remember we are all people, and as James 4:12 reads in the Bible, “Who art thou that judgest another?”

Much Love,

Jena van Frankenhuijsen
Former student