Wednesday, January 29, 1986
Daily Nebraskan
Page 5
o
PUMPS!
0
Support available Letters
for gay students
DN leaves out strengths of UNL's journalism college
Coming out for a gay and lesbian
student is a complex identifica
tion process involving reactions
of fear, denial, anger, ostracism and
ridicule from unempathetic parents,
students and friends.
Lesbiangay students wonder if peo
ple will hate them now that they know.
A very common response is turning out
a person before they get to know the
entire person.
For these reasons, many gay and
lesbian students refrain from coming
out. Not only is this extremely un
comfortable, but it's emotionally un
healthy. If you are a heterosexual,
imagine that you were the minority and
you had to act gay.
It is important to note that people
do not choose to be gay, just as
heterosexuals do not choose their life
style. Sexual orientation is determined
at an early age and is irreversible.
Coming out is a lifelong process
when lesbians and gays learn to accept
their sexual identity, to accept the fact
that they are OK, and make others
aware of themselves.
Gays and lesbians may develop a
cultural consciousness and try to attain
equal and accepting treatment from
society (employment, housing and
public accommodations).
For gaylesbian students to come
out, they must trash all of the prejudi
ces, insults and doctrines of a hetero
sexual society. The feelings of lesbian
or gay students who are coming out
range from isolation, alienation, depres
sion and anger to fear, denial, insecur
ity and celebration.
Support systems for these students
must involve understanding and aware
ness of the students' feelings. UNL has
support for gaylesbian students: the
Counseling Center, the GayLesbian
Hotline and Coming Out Support Group,
WRC's Lesbian Support Group, and
other residence hall counselors.
Sexual orientation is an important
feature in every person. Being gay or
lesbian and comfortable is essential.
Lesbiangay students make up 10 per
cent of UNL's population, but must
deal with 90 percent of society's hete
rosexual dogma, ignorance and oppres
sion because of their sexual orienta
tion. Here's the bottom line:
O gaylesbian people who are
coming out have real needs,
O support systems are available,
O society needs to quit assuming
everyone is heterosexual,
O society needs to learn to accept
people's inherent differences.
Rodney Allen Bell II
President UNL GayLesbian
Student Association
In reading the article on the UNL
College of Journalism accreditation,
(Daily Nebraskan, Jan. 22), it would be
hard for someone to realize that the
accreditation team said the college has
"an excellent program with an excel
lent reputation." The article pointed
out the deficiencies that were cited in
the report, but failed to list the
strengths pointed out by the accredita
tion team.
Since I gave the report to the NU
Board of Regents and cited the strengths
and the deficiencies, let me share the
strengths pointed out by the team.
O Spirited college leadership with
support from the central university
administration. Top-level administra
tion is outstanding.
O A loyal, strong faculty that has
proved its dedication by continually
meeting demands despite heavy aca
demic and administrative loads.
O An active student body eager to
learn and make a contribution to print
journalism, broadcasting and advertis
ing. Students are interested, talented,
hard-working.
A solid curriculum firmly ground
ed in the liberal arts with a strong
practical emphasis in print journalism,
broadcasting and advertising.
O Strong ties to local and regional
professional organizations.
O Particularly strong advising.
O Strong internship program in the
news-editorial department.
O The availability of facilities such
as the radio station, three satellite
dishes, the educational TV station co-
Child abuse rose with legal abortion
I am writing in response to two letters
on abortion (DN, Jan. 23). To Rose
Beck, you now have what you asked for:
a woman's opinion. To Todd Fleischer,
let me fill you in on some facts that you
obviously lack.
The entire abortion issue centers on
the question of the status of unborn
life. The person in the womb is clearly a
human being, for the only thing that is
added after conception is nutrition.
The adolescent girls who have found
themselves with an unwanted preg
nancy cannot murder an innocent,
helpless baby because of their mistake.
Child abuse consistently has risen with
the legalization of abortion. Check the
statistics and you also will discover
that the victims of most child abuse
cases were planned pregnancies.
I am constantly disgusted with pro
abortionists who use unaccountable
facts for their arguments. Look at the
facts and then decide.
Joan Hanigan
junior
language arts
Black family poverty confounds liberals, conservatives
COHEN from Page 5
Years ago, certified liberals did
not talk this way. They scoffed at
the notion that welfare corrupted
values and that values had anything
to do with the plight of the poor
urban black. That was the talk of
conservatives, even of racists.
Liberals talked programs. They
talked jobs, they talked schools. If
they needed to answer criticism,
they could hold up the historical
cross of slavery and the right-wing
vampires would beat a retreat.
No more. That's a good thing, and
more power to Moyers for bringing
the message home via the mouths of
inner-city blacks. But if there was
always a core of truth to the con
servative message, then there is one
to the liberal message as well.
Since 1973, welfare grants of all
kinds have been eroded by inflation,
and yet the problem of illegitimacy
has worsened. If, as conservatives
believe, people will do what makes
economic sense to them, then babies
are being born in the ghetto for
reasons having little to do with
welfare.
As for the ghetto male, he makes
a poor witness to his own plight. His
exaggerated manliness testifies to
his inability to be an economically
functional man to work, to pro
vide for his children. The street
ethic dresses up economic reality
.like a poor man's one good suit.
There are few jobs in the ghetto.
Moyers went where many social
welfare thinkers have already been.
No longer is welfare dismissed as a
possibly corrupting influence.
But if there is truth to this, then
there is truth also in the proposition
that ghetto problems are economic
as well as spiritual. Now, though, it
is a message that's being ignored.
Moyers has provided a service.
The camera showed what the
scholars have been writing. His
troubled face is one of a man who
has come face to face with the truth
and it's not what he once thought.
But if liberals can revise their
thinking, then so, too, should con
servatives by opening the govern
ment's purse for economic programs.
After all, if you want people to have
middle-class values, then at least
offer them the chance to lead middle-class
lives.
1986, Washington Post
Writers Group
Cohen writes an editorial column for
the Washington Post.
February 2
6 is the
Deadline!
All applications for the Student Health and Accident
Insurance must be received by February 28, 1986.
Brochures and information are available at:
UNIVERSITY HEALTH CENTER
or call 472-7437
Chock thoso points:
0 Am I still eligible for coverage under my parent's plan?
A. Is there an age limit? Most policies limit the age for
dependent coverage to age 23.
B. Are you thinking of marriage? Most policies exclude
a dependent after he becomes married.
Have I declared financial independence from
my parents by receiving financial aid, and no
longer eligible as a dependent under their plan?
o Would a medical emergency deplete funds
set aside for my education?
operative efforts and equipment to
produce a laboratory newspaper.
0 A well-deserved, excellent nat
ional reputation.
1 hope this gives readers a better
idea of the quality of our journalism
programs.
Robert R. Furgason
UNL Vice Chancellor
for Academic Affairs
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