As a queer University student, I embrace tolerance, diversity and the right of free enquiry. I believe that no one should be marginalized or mistreated merely because they are different, or forbidden to pose or to attempt to test in an ethical fashion any hypothesis simply because some find the hypothesis distasteful. Thus, I am saddened that some would misuse these principles to defend those who would marginalize and mistreat others as Josh Hess did in his Tuesday opinion piece (“In pursuit of true diversity,” April 21). By absurdly reducing bigotry to a viewpoint and making an appeal for a “true diversity” that welcomes all views no matter how evil, he makes a mockery of tolerance and diversity. Would he condemn Jewish people for decrying an anti-Semite because true “intellectual diversity” includes that viewpoint? Or latinas and latinos for condemning anti-immigrant hate groups even though their views are common?
A twisting of words cannot make the unreasonable reasonable. In the Washington Post article to which Hess refers, Wilkinson argued against a constitutional amendment. His words, however, were still both hurtful and unacceptable. A person who, aware of widespread animosity toward queer folks, would write about “biological complementarity” and not mention homosexuality in other mammal species, appeal illogically to a history of discrimination to support its continuation, and intimate without evidence that allowing same-gender couples to marry threatens the “strong family structures” without which “there will be no stable and healthy social order” is not engaging in free inquiry or merely stating an opinion from a diverse viewpoint. Such a person is, instead, engaging in a rhetorical attack against an already marginalized population.
While I agree with Hess that diverse views should be encouraged, we should not allow bigotry to gain free reign by playing the victim. That is a false tolerance, and should rightly be rejected.
Patrick Graydon
SEAS V
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