BGLSA to Hold Protest, Eat-Ins

The Bisexual Gay and Lesbian Students Association (BGLSA) will hold a rally and two dining hall eatins to protest the most recent issue of Peninsula.

Nearly 100 students turned out last night at a BGLSA-sponsored meeting to discuss Peninsula's October/November issue, which focused on homosexuality.

"What they're showing is how offensive and bigoted you can be and not have people come out against it," said Alejandro E. Reuss '93, who attended last night's meeting.

In the special 55-page issue, editors of the conservative campus magazine wrote that homosexuality is a "bad alternative" to heterosexuality.

Some students at the meeting said that they feared many undergraduates agreed with the magazine.

"It's created a really unsafe atmosphere on campus," said William T. Dougherty '94.

The BGLSA plans to have an eat-in at the Harvard Union today from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. and a rally in the Yard tomorrow at noon. A second eat-in at Lowell House, where the word "faggot" was scrawled on a student's door this week, will be held tomorrow between 5:30 and 7:30 p.m.

The group also plans to start a publication which would include art and poetry as well as articles supporting gay men and lesbians.

But the BGLSA declined an invitation by the Harvard-Radcliffe Political Union to debate the editors of Peninsula.

"BSA [The Black Students Association] does not debate with the KKK; Hillel does not debate with the Neo-Nazis, and BGLSA does not debate with Peninsula," said BGLSA Co-Chair Sandi L. Dubowski '92.

Other students voiced their anger outside the meeting by postering the Yard and several houses with the names and phone numbers of Peninsula editors.

The posters encouraged students to call and complain. "Please tell these people how you feel about hate speech. Bigotry will not be tolerated," the poster read.

The posters were not approved by the BGLSA and read only "App'd Big Fag."

Senior editors of Peninsula said yesterday that they were being inundated by angry calls in response to the magazine.

According to Peninsula editor Robert K. Wasinger '94, who has already received 15 calls, the deluge began Monday night after the issue was distributed. Wasinger said that he was expecting this response. "This is a hypersensitive campus," he said.

Founding editor Roger J. Landry '92 said that most of the dozen calls he received were not complaints but pranks involving statements such as, "We're gonna get you with an AIDS needle."

"I don't appreciate people calling me at four in the morning," Landry said. "We try to give a lot of charity and we expect some reciprocity."

Charles L. Shaw '92, a Peninsula editor, said that he was shocked by the posters and that he hoped that the administration would have them taken down.

"I imagine that the people who did it are the same people who are screaming about gay bashing and homophobia," he said. "They are doing the same thing: choosing people for their views and then attacking them."