BGLSA Responds to Kirkland House Incident

To the Editors of The Crimson:

At a conference at Harvard this year on free speech and hate crimes, Rep. Barney Frank '67 (D-Mass) asserted that "hateful people have a right to be hateful." Under the First Amendment, the use of words such as "chink," "nigger" and "faggot"--however hateful we may find it--is protected, as it should be.

However, hatefulness does not have the right to turn into harassment, and the rest of us have a right and a responsibility to call attention to hatefulness and to work toward its defeat--not by silencing the words themselves but by educating the people who use them about the pain they cause.

We in the Bisexual, Gay and Lesbian Student Association feel that these are the main issues involved in the recent events surrounding a Kirkland House senior's alleged remark to one of our BGLAD tablers and his admitted silencing of another. Our response, the April 19 eat-in, was not intended to single out either the student or Kirkland House, but to draw attention to an incident that illustrates a general lack of sensitivity to gay issues on campus.

We applaud the response of the Kirkland House masters and feel that this man should not be used as a scapegoat. There are alarmingly many Harvard students who need to learn that the word "gay" is offensive when you use it to mean you don't like your teaching fellow.

We don't believe that the Administrative Board necessarily should have disciplined Michael D'Amato '90. We do believe that by dismissing the case, the Ad Board has left open the question of what constitutes "hate speech." The right to be hateful does not take precedent over the right to be free of harassment, and the Ad Board's response has left minority students of all groups uncertain about how much support the University will give us in cases of verbal harassment.

At what point do "actions or words" become "sustained [and] repeated?" The alleged comment may not be harassment, and the coughing may not even be harassment. But what does the Ad Board define as harassment?

D'Amato's comments in The Crimson [April 26] are also disturbing, as they show a lack of understanding of minority rights. Even in a democracy, majority opinion cannot override individual rights. The BGLSA is not simply "a group formed to promote a minority opinion," but the organized, active part of the gay community.

The "minority opinion" that we hold is that our rights are equal to heterosexuals' rights. D'Amato stated that he believed "it was just kind of a joke" that we could make announcements promoting our awareness week while the "majority opinion" that he imagines he shares was not heard.

That's clearly a different majority opinion than the one held by the 300 eat-in participants and the many more sympathetic Harvard students who missed it. Maybe D'Amato's membership in the majority has left him ignorant of the experience of marginalized groups.

By silencing our tabler, he has clearly expressed his unwillingness to hear us and learn or to engage in a reasoned exchange thoughts. To all who are of his opinion: We can't force you to listen while we speak, but please let us speak and keep your hatefulness to yourselves. We have heard it already. Sheila C. Allen '93   Charles R. Flatt '92   co-chairs, Harvard-Radcliffe BGLSA   Sandra Cavazos '92   Michael J. Wartofsky '90-91   Javier E. Mateu '93