Crimson Shows Pro-Gay Bias

To the Editors of The Crimson:

On April 17, the front page of The Crimson included three articles about the activity of gay student organizations. All of these articles dealt with the issue of homosexuality and all included quotes from members of homosexual support groups and organizations. In none of these articles did The Crimson feel obligated to print dissenting views from other campus groups.

An editorial on the second page admits that for the first time, "In October 1989, a Gallup poll reported that more Americans agreed than disagreed that homosexual relations between consenting adults should be legal." That if far from saying that most Americans support homosexuality.

On April 20, The Crimson ran an article on our newly formed organization AALARM, the Association Against Learning in the Absence of Religion and Morality. One of our tenets is the immorality of homosexuality. The article culminated with a gay leaders response that AALARM's beliefs are "ridiculous." Why was this quote included when, only two days before, differing opinions were entirely disregarded?

This incident of bias and closed mindedness by the Crimson in many ways explains why we at AALARM have banded together. Harvard University can be seen as a forum for many voices. The individiual students' voices are faint and rarely heard. But the voices of student organizations, publications and the Faculty and administration are strong.

The voices being heard today at Harvard do not properly represent the many individual opinions and ideas in the University community. One segment of voices cries out unheard. AALARM's purpose is to amplify these voices. We will be heard!

AALARM has adopted a very narrow range of interests. Our goals are to inform students about traditional values and to encourage the manifestation of these values on campus. We want to say that homosexuality, drugs and abortion are wrong. However, these important issues are not our entire focus. We are about positive alternatives to nihilism and pessimism. We encourage students to reach for ideals of faith and community, i.e. traditional values. We're not about telling people what to believe, but to believe. Never be afraid to believe.

AALARM might well be called an "alliance" rather than an "association" because, in many ways, we will function as an alliance of members from all groups--from across a wide religious and political spectrum. We will poster, meet and publish. We will express ourselves. And we will know that the deafening silence of Harvard's traditionalists will have been broken. E. Adam Webb '93   Kenneth D. DeGiorgio '93   Founders, AALARM