To other letters from GSA supporters

By Sue Isermann and Renee Jones
By Kim Abel
By B. Eddie Bauman

Dear Editor,

As a founding member of the IVCC Gay-Straight Alliance I anticipated negativity from a portion of the student body. I expected that the group would be criticized openly and I was not surprised to find this criticism in The Apache.

As soon as I heard that a column was being published against the Gay-Straight Alliance I reminded our members and myself that without contrary, there will be no progression.

The article provided fuel for the fire that is our mission. I was actually disappointed with the column, not because of the negativity, but because of what I felt was poor journalism. As a group we were misquoted and misrepresented. To pass judgment on a group based on their second meeting seems like a rather weak line of attack.

Judging an organization after attending only one meeting WITHOUT actively participating seems rather close-minded. To tell us that we are approaching "Gay Rights" from the wrong angle was rather humorous.

Tell me Mr. Bloomquist, when was the last time you or someone you cared about was the victim of a hate crime because of their sexual orientation? How often are you afraid to talk about your girlfriend because someone might physically harm you? I don’t see my queer friends or our straight allies dwelling on persecutions as a means of advancement. We talk about these persecutions so that we may learn how to protect ourselves.

We talk about these persecutions so that we may understand our persecutors and their motivations. We are striving to abolish homophobia just as the POWER group is striving to abolish racism.

The Gay-Straight Alliance is an alliance, not just a support group. Yes, the members are expected to support one another and to help each other through difficult situations, but that is not the whole of our existence.

We are here to bring the gay and straight members of our community together to celebrate our diversity. We are here to educate our student body to be tolerant and hopefully someday, accepting.

As far as gay rights are concerned: we are striving to achieve the basic human rights that the majority of the U. S. citizens share. We are not asking for permission to flaunt our sexuality in the faces of others. We exist on this campus, gay and straight, with dignity, pride, and courage. I commend the members of the organization for standing up for what they believe is right.