If Roger Hines’ homophobic article, “Biting the Hand that Feeds You: The Way of Academia,” explicitly and effectively explained why universities should focus solely on educational matters, and nothing more, then I would have been all ears; however, the issues displayed in his shallow, rhetorical and outrageously assumptive attempt at print-worthy prose serve as a microcosm for a viral acceptance of fallacious thinking that has infected humane progression for centuries.
Hines’ contentions are that KSU’s “celebration of gay pride is an affront to the entire state since the university, the state’s third largest, receives tax money generated by citizens across Georgia.” He then states in the final sentence, “Let’s hope that KSU is inclusive of conservative Christian students somewhere in all of their diversity.” First, why is it that people who align with Hines’ identity are the only ones identified as citizens? Did Hines not stop to think about the LGBT students who pay taxes—oh, and tuition?
Here’s a news flash: Christianity deviates from Judaism based on the acceptance of Christ as the Lord and Savior. So, who was Jesus Christ? He was a blue-collar, secular, progressive, egalitarian Jew. Jesus was a liberal, in his own right, and the entire point of Christianity is to accept and love your brother, no matter what the circumstances.
In the modern age, hacks like Hines, who claim to be conservative Christians, give the name a hilariously contradicting foundation. They are afraid that government entities, international relationships and liberal concepts of acceptance are destroying the foundations of this once great, God-given country.
Was our country great when its police hosed down African Americans? Was our country great when it traded human flesh and worked it in cotton fields? Was our country—our God-fearing country—so great when that fear led its citizens to burn and hang suspects of witchcraft?
Face it—that train of thought is delusional, crap rhetoric. There is no working around it. There is no way to justify it. For decades, we have had to fight to afford our “unalienable rights” to all American citizens. KSU’s endorsement of acceptance is the same endorsement that was the foundation for Christianity, the foundation of our country and the foundation of every civil rights victory in human history.
Homosexuality and gender ambiguity is natural. It happens in every other species. It’s documented in the Roman Empire. If events like the one being put on by our great school to provide insight and perspective to humanity can simultaneously smoke out the remaining bigotry, hate and ignoramuses who fear true equality within that humanity, then I’m pretty sure those funds are being used for educative purposes. God willing, suddenly I’m more than happy to be a taxpayer.
Mike Foster
Senior Communication Major
