Word: homophobia
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Such shock is, at best, disingenuous. We are perfectly aware that homophobia thrives at Harvard--one need only look to the ROTC debates of last spring for an official and officious example--yet it offends our delicate sensibilities to admit it. It is better to denounce these events as aberrations in an otherwise flawless surface and discuss them as if they were unpalatable only insofar as they are breaches of good manners, mere exercises in poor taste...
This failure to acknowledge the everyday fact of homophobia, instead embracing a discourse of anomaly, of "homophobic incidents", is subtle rhetorical savagery. "Homophobia" gives a name to a problem, while "isolated incidents" perpetuates the myth that no such problem exists...
...atmosphere of ostensible apathy, why not come out? This pretense of indifference--which is solely a pretense--pacifies lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students into a mannerly silence. The closeted convince themselves that being out is not a necessity or a vital political act and that overt homosexuality, like homophobia, is simply a failure of good breeding. If it is common courtesy that keeps students from homophobic violence, it is also what keeps them from queer expression. To be openly queer, and thus offensively queer, is to call into question the heterosexual noblesse oblige of which Harvard is so bafflingly...
Over the past few weeks Mather House has experienced several acts of homophobia (News, Oct. 1). As a resident of Mather House, I am ashamed and embarrassed. As a member of the Harvard community I am outraged. These acts serve as a cold reminder of the narrow-mindedness and intolerance that exists even this school, a supposed model for other colleges to emulate...
...punishment the matter is forgotten. That may be the way it is outside of Harvard's walls, but that should not and can not be the way it is here. A letter from the masters or discipline by the Ad Board does not erase the problem of homophobia, or any other kind of bigotry. Instead, the entire Harvard community must be firm and vocal in its position that intolerance is not tolerated...