Re "Love is propaganda?," Feb. 15: The basic argument of the column reads only slightly more mature than a kindergarten student missing out on the latest primary school fad.
There are several inaccuracies in Ginny Robinson's argument. First, she says "The LGBT" when she means to say "The LGBT Resource Center." This unfortunate error "The LGBT" makes me feel like "The Queer" and has a dehumanizing effect on my community. A lack of proofreading, I believe, is quite demonstrative of a lack of critical thinking skills.
Second, because the shirts were primarily distributed through the LGBT Resource Center, and there was literature offered that described the campaign and its message, it is abundantly clear Robinson didn't visit us for a shirt at all. Our satellite distribution center, the Office of the Dean of Students, also had the pamphlets present. She even visited our Web site, where we also discussed the intentions of the campaign, effectively derailing her argument that we were not informing students of the shirt's purpose.
The person that she interviewed was just one of several hundred students wearing the shirt. Similar to the Republican Party's (another red party for Robinson) Joe the Plumber, there is a failure to seek information from multiple, reputable sources. I doubt she would have polled me in my rainbow belt and short hair for a response. Robinson needs to extend the scope of her hoi polloi to include the large LGBT population and its even larger group of Allies on Grounds.
I also wonder why Robinson attacks the student body at large for their supposed lack of critical thinking skills. If we are so lacking, one wonders why she doesn't seek an education elsewhere with people on her level: People whose idea of critical thinking and debate include tautological and circular argumentation. I fail to see how saying that people are too emotional about emotions demonstrates anything other than circularity.
There was nothing "subliminal" about the campaign. It is, quite simply, the acknowledgment that love is classless, race-less, gender-less, and equal. Shirts proclaiming that all love is equal do not strike me as a subliminal thrust of the gay rights movement. It resonates with me as a message of equality and acceptance.
As a lesbian and the founder/president of a national queer-friendly fraternity Sigma Omicron Rho, I know the struggle of loving differently, especially during Valentine's Day. To walk across Grounds on Friday and seeing a sea of red shirts was incredibly empowering to me. For one day, I didn't feel any awkwardness telling people about my Valentine's Day plans. I felt accepted. For someone like me who lacks heterosexual privilege and is constantly reminded of that when I'm doing everything from apartment hunting to card shopping, this was a breath of fresh air.
Hang up your hammer and sickle Comrade Robinson and write more carefully in the future. The only thing more red than our Love is Love shirts should be your flush of embarrassment from forwarding a homophobic and poorly reasoned argument.
Christi Thomas\nCLAS III
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