Gay Center Necessary

Given Harvard's randomization of the housing lottery, the College has a moral obligation to provide a gay student center. Under the former system of non-ordered choice, students were more able to find communities where they could draw strength from people with similar backgrounds.

It is unlikely that the gay community could raise enough funds on its own for a center. The stigma attached to joining a gay alumni organization would make it difficult for the BGLSA to raise the necessary money through alumni channels.

The Crimson staff assumes that the gay student center would "balkanize" the campus, but they give no historical precedent for this belief. In fact, schools like Tufts or U.C.-Berkeley with gay student centers (not dormitories, which are an entirely separate issue) have not experienced such fragmentation.

We understand that the establishment of a gay student center by the College would set a precedent for other minority groups to expect similar facilities. If that is true, great--they deserve it too.

The BGLSA does not want the center to shut gay students off from the rest of campus; they just want a safe, accepting space for gay students.