Twisting Faith

When I came to Albany in 1978 as a student, one of the first actions I was involved in was convincing the University at Albany, then called the State University of New York at Albany, to include sexual orientation in its non-discrimination policy.

There was some discussion, some deliberation and eventually the administration did the right thing-they moved to protect lesbian and gay students on campus.

Soon many college campuses followed suit. In the 21st century, non-discrimination policies that protect LGBT students are commonplace, part of the warp and weft of what I’ve always thought academic freedom was all about-creating a community where all voices were valued, even those I don’t necessarily agree with.

But something sinister and perverse has happened recently. Campus-based conservative groups are attacking these policies saying their rights to free speech and to their religious practices are being infringed. Somehow a positive action-protection and acceptance-is twisted and becomes grounds for a negative reaction.

At Georgia Tech two students-one Christian, one Jewish, both conservative-have sued the school saying its non-discrimination policy violates their freedom of speech because they are effectively barred from speaking out against homosexuality and other issues on campus.

Georgia Tech thinks the suit is without merit. The school’s spokesperson, Amelia Gambino, told the Atlanta Constitution recently that Georgia Tech takes the civil rights of all it’s student seriously and that student organizations are encouraged to “express themselves as long as they do not encourage violence or intolerance of others.” That seems fair enough.

But not for the Alliance Defense Fund, the legal ministry that has brought the Georgia Tech suit on behalf of the two students. In the suit, the Fund also accuses the school of unconstitutionally allowing on campus a group called Safe Space which trains college staff and students on LGBT issues. The ADF said the group pushes a viewpoint advocating that students and employees overcome their religious objections to homosexuality.

Here is an example of ADF twisting the truth. Safe Space is actually a Georgia Tech program. The program’s main objectives, found on its website at www.safespace.gatech.edu, are the following: to provide a supportive environment for LGBT members of the campus community, to facilitate their "coming out" process, to foster a social climate in which others do not feel the need to express anti-gay attitudes in order to "fit in," to dispel negative stereotypes and present factually accurate information about LGBT people, and to publicize other support resources or structures that are available on or off campus.

Participation in Safe Space trainings is purely voluntary-no one is coerced, forced or tied to a chair and made to listen. No one’s right to free speech or religious freedom is being threatened. All that Safe Space is trying to do is make Georgia Tech inclusive and welcoming for LGBT students, faculty and staff.

And that’s really the crux of the matter. For ADF and other Radical Christian Right groups and adherents creating a welcoming atmosphere for LGBT people makes them feel unwelcome. Permitting LGBT-positive messages on campus makes it increasingly uncomfortable for them to give public voice to vitriol, ergo, their free speech is being stifled. Why, even letting LGBT people exist appears to be a threat to their religious freedom.

If you visit the ADF website (alliancedefensefund.org) you’ll see what I mean. They’re very proud of their first published book and the title says it all. "The Homosexual Agenda: Exposing the Principal Threat to Religious Freedom Today."

I just don’t get it.

How is it that our desire to live our lives openly and freely, have our families around us, practice our religious beliefs, and basically define our own version of the American dream be a threat to anyone’s religious freedom? How is it that our right to free speech violates theirs? How is it that they’ve so totally confused democracy with demagoguery?

And how is it that in their fervor to save the world from LGBT people, the Christian Right has turned their backs on one of their religion’s basic teachings-to love their neighbor as themselves.

*By Libbey Post 365Gay.com Libby Post is President of Communication Services, an Albany, New York-based full-service marketing firm serving the not-for-profit, health care, tourism and small business sectors. She has just launched a new firm, www.outmarketing.biz, which provides marketing services to companies that want to reach the gay and lesbian market. Post is also President Emeritus of the Capital District Gay and Lesbian Community Council and Founding Chair of the Empire State Pride Agenda. She has received numerous honors including being named one of the 100 Women of Excellence by the Albany-Colonie Chamber of Commerce and was cited by New York State Governor Mario Cuomo for her work on behalf of New York’s statewide lesbian and gay community.