Newspapers / Lambda (Carolina Gay and … / Jan. 1, 1993, edition 1 / Page 3
Part of Lambda (Carolina Gay and Lesbian Association, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
January 1993 • The Lambda • 3 Stop hugging homophobes Multiculturalism isn’t about tolerating hate Y eah, I know we live in a complex world, but let’s cut through some of the bullshit and admit some simple truths. Homophobia is wrong just like racism is wrong and sexism is wrong. Ignorant hate is intolerable, and the ideas and ide ologies it has contributed to even the well-intentioned among us need to be confronted, shamed, glared at, embarrassed, and eliminated. Now. An absurd notion has come to pass as truth, that, in the name of tolerance and diversity, we should embrace ignorant hate. That we should pet homophobes softly on the hand and say, “Well, now I don’t agree with you, but I respect your opinion. It’s okay.” It’s not okay, and I don’t respect homophobia. It’s not a matter for intellectual disagreement. It’s cause for anger, for name calling, and for action, now. It’s not a topic on which reasonable minds can disagree. Reasonable minds don’t accept their homophobia. Reasonable minds get real scared when they see Pat Buchanan declare a holy war on the perverts, when they see Oregon voters talking about “abnor mal, wrong, unnatural, and perverse,” when they see whole states and cities passing anti-gay intiatives. IM I ismumr Chronicling the Garniina lesbian, gay and bisexual communily The views and opinions expressed herein ore those of their respective authors and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of the Lambda staff, B-GLAD, or the University of North Caroling at Chapel Hill. The publication of the name, photograph, or likeness of any individual or organization herein is not to be construed as indication of the individual's or organization's sexual preference or orientation. Lambda Staff Alex DeGrand, Doug Ferguson, Trey Harris, Mike Hefner, Vicki Hyman, John Johnson, Grant Moss, Kathy L. Staley, Matt Stiegler, Karen Swain, Lucy Sweetman, Michael G. Williams Contributors Chris Berini, Karen Lally For advertising rates or other information regarding the Lambda, please call us at (919) 962-4401 or write us at: The Lambda Box 39 Carolina Union The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel HilL.NorrtKCqrolijia 2/^614 - ^ Reasonable minds get real angry when their Student Congress perenially tries to defund B-GLAD, when a bigot like Carl Clark decides he is the voice of leadership this campus needs, when UNC refuses to add sexual orientation to its anti-discrimination statement, when the DTH letters section is infested with anti-gay diatribes and when this campus gets flooded by anonymous anti-gay flyers and no one flinches. This is not about tolerance. This is about fascism. In America. At UNC. Maybe in you. Hitler gassed gays in his concentration camps. And lots of folks in America smile and hug their kids when anti-gay-bashing legislation is repealed, when civil rights for lesbians and gays are denied, when our military, our schools and our libraries are purged of the queer menace. It’s time queers on this campus became a menace. Dangerous dykes, furious fags, bellicose b’s and anyone else on this campus with an aversion to playing fascist are long overdue. Don’t talk to me about thought police and don’t tell me about religious intolerance. It’s this simple: If you think your religion tells you homosexuals need to be cured, than either you are wrong or your god is, and I’d be damn careful about what hate I pinned on my god. Lots of people through history — they call them selves Christians — have taken the words of Jesus Christ and fancied them a mandate for their evil. Their god and their Bible insisted on the slavery of blacks, gloried in Native American genocide, de manded the subjugation of women and relished a good witch burning. Homophobia is not a matter for inteiiectuai disagreement, it's cause for anger, for name caiiing, for action, J now. And if you fag-bashing, Binkley-expelling, Leviticus-quoting, anti-gay legislating protectors of our souls think you are any different than those who quoted their scripture in defense of slavery, of segregation, of misogyny and of genocide, then you are a tool of evil and an ignorant one at that. Religion makes an awkward mechanism for feel ing good about your ignorant hate. Homophobia is not diversity, it is the enemy. Stop tolerating it, stop excusing it, and stop asking us to make you feel good if you’ve got it. This editorial first appeared in the January 28,1993 issue of The Daily Tar Heel. Our mission: to chaiienge I n 1992, the Carolina Gay and Lesbian Associa tion changed its name to Bisexuals, Gay men, Lesbians, and Allies for Diversity. In 1993, the Lambda has changed its format from newsletter to activist newspaper. These two cosmetic changes mark the beginning of a far more significant, and infinitely more diffi cult, transformation. In changing our name and reconstituting our publication, we start on the path that leads to nothing less than the transformation of an organization into a movement. A mass into a force. Common identity into common cause. '^This is the vision which brought together the handful of us who have produced this Lambda. Women and men, queers and heteros, blacks and whites, undergrads and grads, we are united by the shared conviction that our society’s — and our university’s — treatment of lesbians, gay men and bi’s is dehumanizing, both for its victims and its victimizers. Our humanity is not negotiable. We do not offer our love or our lives up for anyone’s judgment. And to confront that judgment and that dehuman ization, to confront a viciously homophobic world on a daily basis, is to be drawn into our struggle. Anger is the only sane reaction, action the only worthy reply. So we write. But in writing, we hope to set in motion the transformation of our organization, our university, our community, ourselves. If we suc ceed, the time will soon be upon us when to write will not be enough. “The question is not whether we will be extrem ists, but what kind of extremists we will be,” Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote in 1963. “The nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.” It is in this spirit that we present the following statement of our mission at Lambda: • to serve, not merely as an outlet for frustration, but as a catalyst for activism and a vehicle for change. • to identify and challenge homophobia in any form as it appears. • to serve as a forum for information and opinion relevant to queers and their allies at UNC. • to foster a community identity among UNC’s lesbians, gay men, bi’s and allies. • to serve as an organ for B-GLAD for achieving its identified goals. • to make its readers — and its staff — more effective agents for change on a homophobic cam pus in a homophobic society. • to be read by queers and heteros, friends and enemies, students, faculty and administration. • to support other struggles for social justice. » V ' » I ' I
Lambda (Carolina Gay and Lesbian Association, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Jan. 1, 1993, edition 1
3
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75