In Context: 5 Web Perspectives On A Story In The News

Gender and sexual diversity on campus

(Washington Times) A Los Angeles college student is suing the  Los Angeles Community College District and his professor for not allowing him to give an anti-gay speech. Jonathan Lopez is a Christian and feels it's his duty to speak out against homosexuality, but some students felt the speech was “hate speech.” Lopez, who's represented by the Christian legal organization The Alliance Defense Fund, said he was not granted freedom of speech. He also said his professor, John Matteson, called him a “facist bastard" after Lopez denounced same-sex marriage in a public speaking class last November.  

1.

Censorship of homosexuality at Notre Dame

The Observer
In this editorial, a Notre Dame's student accuses the university of “quietly killing” the Queer Film Festival “slowly and deviously from behind the scenes.”  In 2007, Notre Dame refused to permit the event organizers to use the word “festival” in the event's title, because the term insinuated that the school celebrated homosexuality. The university later forbade the festival from using the word “gay” in its title. The festival persevered, calling itself "Qlassics: Reimagining Sexuality and the Self in Recent American Cinema." This year, no plans were made to launch the festival, which the reporter blames on censorship from priests at the Catholic University.

2.

University of Michigan teaches students "how to be gay"

University of Michigan Course Description
The University of Michigan offers a controversial course entitled “How to Be Gay ” targeted at gay male students. “Just because you happen to be a gay man doesn't mean that you don't have to learn how to become one,” reads the course description. Professor David M. Halperin promises English 317 will approach homosexuality as a subtle and complex “sub-cultural practice” and as a theme in gay male writing. The class will also examine “cultural artefacts and activities” stereotypically associated to gay male culture, such as Broadway musicals and Hollywood movies. Halperin aims to approach gay identity through social practices and cultural identifications, rather than simply from a sexuality-based perspective. 

3.

Adult education class teaches students to be glamorous drag queens

BBC
Melbourne's Swinburne University offers an adult education course which teaches students how to become glamorous drag queens. "There is definitely more to being a successful drag queen than simply wearing the right clothes," said instructor Michael Schifferle. The course teaches graduates how to “become proficient in concealing eyebrows and beard shadows,” cosmetic-product recognition and guides students in creating individual, theatrical looks. 

4.

Student at all-male university says gays ruin school's reputation

The Maroon Tiger
An opinion piece in the student newspaper for Morehouse College, the only all-male historically black university in the United States, questions whether gay students fit the ideal archetype of a Morehouse man. “Does being a gay man include adopting the traits of a woman? Because if that's the case, there's a more fitting school, and it's not an all male institution,” the author says. “If you're born a man, you should be just that -- a man.” The student questions what would happen if a Morehouse student underwent a sex change.  Would he then be kicked out of school? The student closes by suggesting that effeminate gay men will harm the school's reputation. 

5.

Gay student provides peer support at Dalhousie

Dalhousie Gazette
Dalhousie University's “peer ally” provides support to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered students as well as to straight students, who'd like to learn more about the LGBT lifestyle or know how to act when a family member comes out of the closet.  Patrick Daigle came out himself when he was 22 and in his third year of university and says the experience inspired him to provide support to others.  Daigle's position as peer ally was created in 2006 to raise awareness about LBGT issues and providing students in need of counsel with a trained professional. Daigle is a clinical therapist and a student of social work at Dalhousie University.