More Tolerance, Education

April is Queer Month at Harvard--and queer has been the response. Since Queer Month began, numerous events have been held including a Queer Politics dinner, with participants including national gay rights activists at Dunster, a Gay Activism Forum at the Kennedy School, and anti-gay graffiti scrawled on the wall in the main entrance of Dunster house by some unknown vandals. We are dismayed by the outburst of anti-gay sentiment that stained Dunster's wall as it tarnished the positive feeling of Queer Month. We hope that this month and the vandalism incident will be used not only to increase awareness of gay issues but also to address some of the deep-seated prejudices that have been "outed" in the process.

We agree with Jane I. Aceituno '98, co-chair of Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, and Transgendered Students' Association, that the graffiti may well have been a response to the publicity that issues surrounding homosexuality have been getting in the days since Queer Month began. If Queer Month is to serve the role of educating the Harvard student body about homosexuality, then its organizers should take this upsetting event as an impetus to bring the homophobia latent on this campus to the fore and to find constructive ways of dealing with it. At the same time, the administration should follow the Kennedy School's example in responding to the homophobia speech by sponsoring more programs to educate all students.

We are disturbed by the vandalism but are encouraged by the possibility that the prejudiced attack on homosexuals will provide a muchneeded incentive and cause to address homophobia at Harvard.