KarMel Scholarship 2008

Editorial

“Where’s the Outcry”

By Kevyn Bowles

Desciption of Submission: “Editorial piece I wrote after being the victim of a LGTBQ hate crime as a freshman at Georgetown U.- Kevyn

Within my first two weeks at Georgetown, I was verbally and physically assaulted simply for being a proud, openly gay student. Since “fag,” “cocksucker” and “fucking homo” were but a few of the not-so-welcoming words I heard that night in September, I couldn’t help but expect an outcry of outrage and support from the university community I had just joined. In the end, it was an outcry that never came.

After reporting the incident to the school and dealing with a lackluster Department of Public Safety response, a few friends of mine wrote editorials and letters about what had happened to me to THE HOYA and The Voice. Articles like “Hate Crimes Have No Place on the Hilltop” led to a total response of four e-mails from other Hoyas expressing care and support. In the end, I chose to put the incident behind me in order to continue seeking my niche at the school that had become my home.

Now, another infuriating display of intolerance and homophobia has occurred here on our campus. Two good friends of mine were kicked out of a party at a local residence based purely upon their sexual orientation; they were followed out the door by screams of “fags” and “we don’t accept that here” and “burn in hell.” When a friend stood and argued in their defense, beer was flung at her.

These two freshmen are so much more than simply “gay.” They are very real, kind, loving people who care about others. They are enthusiastic students who are actively involved in campus activities and academics. They are thoughtful friends who bring nothing but laughter, kindness and compassion to everyone they know.

For them to be treated in such a way — to be discriminated against in such a cruel, humiliating manner based on nothing but their sexual preference — has no place on this campus.

Were this crime to have been committed against a member of another minority group, students, faculty and campus organizations would already be leaping to his or her defense. In the past, university-wide action has been taken against displays of racism and intolerance based on ethnicity, but it is time that the intelligent and cultured students of this fine institution make a place for understanding in their lives.

An acceptance and wholehearted welcome of the gay, lesbian and transgender community on this campus needs to occur, and it needs to occur now.

Words like “fag” and “queer” — vile words filled with hatred and narrow-mindedness — have as little place on this campus as displays of racism or sexism. The students of this university simply cannot look the other way for one moment more — the gay students who study and live here demand to be treated with the respect and dignity that every human being deserves. We sit next to you in the library, eat across from you in the cafeteria, pray next to you in church and cheer with you at basketball games; we are athletes and Corp employees, student guards, club presidents and performers.

We are Hoyas too — this is our home. Take a stand against prejudice and bigotry in all forms and speak out. Speak out against hatred, speak out for compassion and understanding and reach out to those experiencing discrimination.

If you continue to look the other way as acts of hatred like this incident are perpetrated against the undeserving, you are committing as terrible and hateful a crime as the students who perpetrated this one. Celebrate what makes each person who resides within this campus different, and you are doing yourself and this community a greater service than you can possibly imagine.

It is time to create a culture of understanding at this university, where all are free to embrace and be proud of whomever and whatever they are. Make Georgetown a community that all students, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation, can be proud to call their own.

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