COLAGE funding issue interests readers
student s money not
for gays and lesbians
I read AS UN President Jeff Pe
tersen’s letter opposing funding for
the Committee Offering Lesbian and
Gay Events (Daily Nebraskan, Feb.
21) and I agree with everything he
said. I don’t want my money going
toward financing gay/lesbian activi
ties, no matter what the amount. Does
this make me homophobic -- as
homosexuals are quick to point out? I
don’t think so, otherwise I wouldn’t
function in this society very well.
I am not interested in gay/lesbian
activities or helping the gay/lesbian
cause. They still have their right to
exist--just don’t use my money. Vice
Chancellor for Student Affairs James
Griesen will probably give these indi
viduals the money they want from
somewhere before this issue ever
goes to court, but I thought 1 would
make myself heard anyway.
Trudy Watts
freshman
COLAGE important
to UNL’s community
I believe COLAGE has an impor
tant role to play in the total university
community.
I have been teaching at the Univer
sity of Nebraska-Lincoln for 13 years
in Human Development and the
Family, and many limes in my classes
I have found it important to discuss
sexuality and homosexuality. People,
young and old alike, tend to be
greatly interested and greatly con
fused when it comes to issues of sex u
ality, and over the years it has been
very helpful to me to have small
groups of gay and lesbian students
come to discuss issues of sexual ori
entation with my classes.
I chose to-do this back in 1976, or
so, when I was appalled over an inci
dent that occurred in Arizona. A UNL
student, the coordinator of the gay
student group on campus, was vaca
tioning in Phoenix. He and some
friends had gone to a gay bar for
drinks and to talk. He was not “cruis
ing” at the time. He simply was vis
iting with friends. The young man
and his friends were accosted when
they left the bar by a group of high
school football players. The young
man was beaten in the parking lot of
the bar and died from his injuries.
This did not seem much different
to me from Nazi Germany in the
1930s and 40s, where Adolf Hitler
forced homosexuals to wear yellow
ribbons to readily identify them.
Hitler sent countless homosexuals to
the death camps, along with Jews,
Poles, Russians, gypsies and others.
The major researchers who have
studied the development of homo
sexuality generally have not been
able to conclude why some humans
end up straight and some end up gay.
Each gay and lesbian individual s
story about his or her development
tends to be relatively unique: some
had cold mothers and warm fathers;
sonic had warm mothers and cold
fathers; some were orphans; some
had early sexual experiences with a
person of the same sex; others did
not; and so forth.
One leading authority, Dr. Law
rence Hattcrer, a psychiatrist, said:
“With perhaps 20 million American
men who practice some lorm of
homosexuality, it’s inconceivable
that all should have emerged from the
same set of causes . . . Hattcrer
continued that in more than 10,000
interviews with gay men, “I’ve heard
... every combination and variation
of parental history that you can imag
ine.”
1 personally decided that since the
scientific community was confused
about the issue, it would be important
to show young heterosexuals that
gays do not necessarily choose to be
so. And this is just another good rea
son why they do not deserve to be
persecuted but better understood.
The discussions in my classes with
gay people have always been very
straightforward, honest and often
useful in helping both straight and
gay students in understanding each
other better. Perhaps a dozen or more
times I have asked the panelists --
never the same students - why they
decided to come to class.
I play devil’s advocate in my ques
tioning: “Are you coming here to
recruit?”
The answer is always “Of course
not.” But the best answer I have
gotten is: “Do you think I would want
other people to go through what I
have to go through in life?”, i.e. the
hostility, aggression, shunning, hurt
ful jokes, loss of jobs, loss of love and
rejection from other family mem
bers, fear of the possible loss of life,
and so forth. Many young homosexu
als have told me that their parents
“disown” them when the person
openly admits his or her homosexual
ity.
I have three daughters. My oldest
daughter, 19, is one of the few hetero
sexual members of COLAGE. She is
a member of the group, she tells her
mother and me, because she believes
homosexuals arc terribly persecuted
anu oecause snc nas many gay anu
lesbian friends who arc fine people.
My daughter argues that perhaps up
to 10 percent of the people in this
country are gay. No one will ever
know for sure, of course.
My daughter tells me she is in
volved with gay rights because gay
and lesbian people need support, too.
I agree. Gay and lesbian people
clearly are a persecuted minority.
Perhaps the University of Arkansas
case which ended up in the Eighth
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is rea
son enough to modestly support the
gay and lesbian students on this
campus. Apparently it has been found
illegal to block student funds for gay
and lesbian programming.
A better reason to support CO
L AGE, however, is that perhaps up to
2,4(X) students at UNL arc gay or
lesbian. We will never know for sure,
because it is too dangerous in our
society for the vast majority to come
out. COLAGE is trying in a modest,
very sincere way to help all of us
understand each other better. That, of
course, is what a university is all
about.
John DcFrain, Ph.D.
associate professor
COLAGE issue is
funding, not morals
In response to the recent furor
raised over the denial of funds to
COLAGE - the issue is not morality,
it is whether the majority of UNL
students wish to fund that organiza
tion.
The AS UN Senate represented the
student body in denying these funds.
Just because it is a university organi
zation, it is not entitled to student
funding. The money I pay to the uni
versity is still mine, and whether I
choose to pay for something, or to get
a refund is still my choice — it’s my
money.
If one wants to support a certain
organization, do it, but if the rest of
the student body doesn’t want to,
don’t condemn them and call them
close-minded. It is their choice. I
belong to a student organization and I
pay a substantial sum to support it and
its activities every year. I don’t ex
pect the non-member student body to
fund it also, and I don't blame them or
call them names for not wanting to.
And Shawn Leavitt (DN, Feb. 22),
I don’t ever remember seeing any
signs that said “Heterosexual activ
ity only. Homosexuals not invited.”
ASUN doesn’t shun your existence,
they were just following the will of
the majority by not giving you any
money.
Thomas Kernes
sophomore
chemistry
Degree or debate
confuses student
The amount of controversy about
COLAGE funding dumbfounds me. I
find it amazing that all these people
are against giving this committee
$750 for a variety of reasons.
First of all, the way I understand it
is that we as students ar e going to pay
a certain set fee next year, regardless
of where the money is allocated to. If
this is true, and even if it isn’t, I doubt
that one percent of the student body
could tell me how their fees are di
vided up. So why the big uproar when
a half-cent of their student fees goes
to a suppressed group in our society?
Secondly, COLAGE is recog
nized as a UPC-sponsored committee
and deserves the same consideration
as the other UPC committees. The
fact is that an overwhelming majority
of students don’t attend UPC events
anyway (I know, I have been a com
mittee member before), so why fund
all of the other committees and nor
this one?
Lastly, ana most importantly,
what have the people who arc against
COLAGE really gained? Have they
done away with a group that has
annoyed some of the student popula
tion lor years? No.
Regardless of whether COLAGE
is funded or not, the group will still
exist. Have they stopped this group
from having an effect on this issue by
trying to deny them funding? No.
COLAGE/GLSA has never really
done anything to educate the campus
about homosexual rights, and $750
isn’t going to change that fact.
In my four years at this campus, all
GLSA has been is an advertisement
in the Daily Nebraskan and then for
gotten. Have the people against
COLAGE funding helped the com
mittee’s goal of becoming better
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n
do? Definitely yes.
The publicity generated by this
controversy has to be beneficial to
COLAGE. Publicity is just what
COLAGE wants, and the people
against them are providing them all
they need.
I believe it all comes down to this.
If you are secure with your sexuality,
then the activities of COLAGE will
not affect you, and funding should be
approved on the basis that virtually
every UPC committee has no effect if
you don’t take advantage of it. If you
aren’t secure with your sexuality and
feel threatened by COLAGE, maybe
this committee could do you some
good.
Rob Britton
senior
biological sciences
Issue is tiresome;
suggestion offered
I am tired of hearing about CO
LAGE and its “fund-a-fag” cam
paign to acquire student fees. To me it
sounds as if the majority don’t want
their fees directed towards something
they don’t agree with.
Now COLAGE is threatening to
take the issue to court because they
say that not funding their program is
due to discrimination and is unconsti
tutional. I ask you to think of this for
a moment. If my religion docs not
allow me to participate in homosexu
ality or associate myself with it in any
way, yet a portion of my student fees
is allocated to the support of such a
group, is it possible that my freedom
of religion is being suppressed in
such a manner that would be consid
ered unconstitutional?
In light of this, might I offer a
suggestion? Members of COLAGE
have claimed that approximately 10
percent of the student population of
UNL is gay. If the student population
is approximately 25,000, this would
mean 2,500 student arc gay, correct?
If each one of these students were to
contribute $1 to COLAGE, they
would have sufficiently more funds
than they are asking for currently.
Now, you ask, how docs one col
lect the money? Here’s what I pro
pose: When students register at UNL
they mark a box on the registration
form marked “religious prefer
ence.’’ Why not have a box for
“sexual preference -- homosexual or
heterosexual.’’ One dollar would
then be added to the total fees of those
who marked homosexual .This would
also give a good idea of just how
many people really want COLAGE. I
realize that something of this nature
would be hard to do, but it makes
sense, doesn’t it?
In closing, I agree with the deci
sion not to fund COLAGE. I am not a
homophobic or a bigot, but I do not
wish to fund a homosexual organiza
tion.
diii mnmaii
sophomore
marketing
Educate students?
minds are made up
After having watched the debate
over funding of COLAGE I have
come to a conclusion. No matter what
legitimate arguments are brought up,
no matter how many polls are taken
and no matter what evidence cab be
brought forth to deny COLAGE
funding, the persons for the simport
of COLAGE will scream “Cfcse
minded Bigots!” Why is it that this
group should be given special treat
ment based on their sexual prefer
ence? It is not through educating
people about homophobia that will
stop homophobia. Each persoB has
already made up his or her own mind
on the subject! I have a brother who is
homosexual. I do not love him any '
more or less for it. He is a person like
everyone else. The difference be
tween him and COLAGE is that he
doesn’t demand special considera
tion because of it g
Janies Smits
.." r senior
finance
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