Nov. 4 Letters to the Editor, in response to Oct. 21 letter to the Editor
Editor’s Note: Below is the original Oct. 21 letter to the Editor in response to the editorial “Critical citizens vital to a republic” printed in the Oct. 7 issue of The Guardsman.
I am completely in accord with your editorial condemnation of the Obama commemoration at City College — although I suppose the unearned Nobel prize will now be given as a kind of excuse. “City College should never elevate one set of rational ideas above another,” you rightly say.
The same principle applies to irrational ideas, of course. Yet every year the chancellor participates in the Gay Pride Parade, elevating homosexualism above homophobia. Anyone with a sound knowledge of biology and ordinary skills in conceptual analysis can work out that homosexualism and homophobia are two sides of the same counterfeit coin. But City College elevates one irrational idea over the other.
John A. Wills
Senior Programmer/Analyst
City College information technology services department
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Dear Guardsman staff,
I was deeply offended and concerned by John Wills’ letter to the editor in the Oct. 21 issue, and have prepared this response. I hope you will print this in your next edition:
John Wills’ letter to the Editor in the Oct. 21 issue—which equated gay rights activism with homophobia and criticized City College for celebrating the SF Pride Parade and the election of our nation’s first non-white president—was profoundly inappropriate, offensive, and even disturbing.
It is completely irrational and intellectually dishonest to relate homosexuality (a natural, immutable human trait) in any way with homophobia (the willful and deliberate fear and hatred of homosexuals). By “homosexualism” Wills seemed to refer to the cause for gay rights and equal treatment; how anyone can say that support for equal treatment and acceptance of gays and lesbians is in any way related to the hatred and bigotry of homophobia is beyond me.
City College is a place that promotes diversity, tolerance, and equality, as well as respect for everyone’s dignity as a human being. As such it is wholly appropriate that we celebrate both gay pride parades and the election of our nation’s first non-white president.
Gay pride parades are an expression of the need for GLBTQ community and all those who believe in equal rights to stand against the hatred and discrimination that has been leveled against homosexuals for centuries. Being such an integral part of the San Francisco community, City College has a duty to promote and celebrate such parades; to fail to do so would be to fail miserably at our mission of promoting acceptance, diversity, and equality.
It gives me some solace to see that the Matthew Shepherd Act has finally passed Congress and made its way to our president’s desk. Such hate crimes legislation is vital to protect vulnerable, targeted groups like the homosexual community. Until the hate ceases, gay pride parades and, more importantly, the greater cause for gay rights and equal treatment will remain a priority for our nation–and for our college. Tolerance, diversity, and most of all equality for all members of society are rightly at the heart of CCSF’s mission, as they forever will be.
Sincerely,
Scott Gentile
CCSF Mathematics Dept.
“When Fascism comes to America, it will be wearing a flag and carrying a cross.”
-Sinclair Lewis
Dear Editor,
In a recent letter to the editor, John A. Wills equates something he calls “heterosexualism” with homophobia and criticizes the chancellor for participating in the Gay Pride Parade. I suppose this is one of the irrational ideas he refers to earlier in his letter. I find most of his letter to be based on such irrationality.
Homophobia/heterosexism is a prejudice predicated on the belief that heterosexuality is the norm in human sexual relationships and that anything other than that is abnormal or perverse. It has been used to justify discrimination, brutal hate crimes, imprisonment, forced psychiatric treatments (including some very harmful types of shock and aversion therapy), and even murder. Parents have disowned and abused their children after discovering they do not conform to heterosexual “norms.” At City College this very year, there have been several incidents of harassment on campus by students who believe that those who do not conform to their standard of “normalcy” are valid targets. Mr. Wills’ letter, in stating that a sound knowledge of “biology” would lead us to the obvious conclusion that homophobia is the same as “homosexualism” is the type of misinformation that leads those who think it is okay to harass fellow citizens to believe it is within their right to do so.
In fact, biology tells us that homosexuality, bisexuality and transgenderism are natural occurrences, and it seems that only the human species has decided this is unnatural and deserves unjust, unfair and often brutal treatment. Homosexuality is natural, homophobia is an abomination of nature.
I am currently in Spain on sabbatical. In 2005 the newly elected Prime Minister of Spain and the legislature approved marriage equality for same-sex couples. In his address to the legislature, Prime Minister Zapatero stated, “a decent society does not humiliate its members.”
It seems to me that we still have a long way to go to become a decent society in the United States. We have outraged citizens advocating the assassination of a president supposedly for his ideology, but more likely for the color of his skin. We still treat gay, lesbian and bisexual citizens as second class, while those who are transgendered are brutalized and abused on a daily basis.
At City College I hope we can begin to work more toward the decent society that Prime Minister Zapatero referred to in his 2005 address. I applaud the chancellor and members of the board of trustees who recognize the importance of CCSF embracing all of our communities, and participating in celebrations of all of our diversity, including, but not limited to Cesar Chavez celebrations, the Chinese New Year Parade and the Gay Pride Parade. Our celebration of the first African-American President in the history of the United States, a history that is tarred with indecency, is also one step toward that decent society I hope I will perhaps see a glimmer of in my lifetime.
Until then, I hope that the views of those like Mr. Wills will be heard less, and those who advocate for our treatment of one another in a fair and decent way will become the norm, not the exception.
Rick Kappra
ESL Instructor/Civic Center Campus
Editor:
“…homosexualism and homophobia are two sides of the same counterfeit coin” writes John Wills in his letter to the editor in your Oct. 21 issue—and The Guardsman printed it!
Are you kidding me? At a community college that is one of the most diverse in the nation—that consistently educates, supports and aggressively pursues diversity initiatives and education among its employees and students—and the school newspaper publishes a letter that not only doesn’t make sense, but that includes slurs and hate speech in its content.
This is unacceptable and diametrically opposed to the mission and goals of this college and the broader society. The Guardsman staff need a lesson—immediately—in the difference between hate speech and free speech because the City College community will not tolerate hatred fueled by ignorance and bigotry.
Lindy McKnight
Dean of Counseling and Student Support
City College of San Francisco E206
SF, CA 94112