Mansfield's Comments Show His Ignorance

On behalf of Harvard-Radcliffe's bisexual, gay, and lesbian community, we feel compelled to respond to Professor Harvey Mansfield's recent Evan v. Romer testimony, which branded gay practices as "shameful," gay love as inherently "imperfect and stunted and frustrated," and the presence of a gay community as "undermin [ing] civilization." Such statements are fully within his rights to make, since Professor Mansfield, like all Americans, is guaranteed freedom of speech by the First Amendment.

By the same token, we have the right to denounce his testimony as irresponsible, insulting and false. Furthermore, given that Mansfield was addressing not passers by in the Square but a judge and jury which will decide whether or not Colorado gays will have rights, and given that Mansfield was speaking not merely as a private citizen but as a tenured Harvard professor whose words carry the weight of the University's implicit approval, we feel that we have an urgent responsibility to react publicly to Mansfield's remarks.

Mansfield unleashed a stream of arbitrary adjectives about gays and gay love--"shameful," "stunted," and "irresponsible," to name a few--without bothering to put forth data that supports his arguments. On what basis is Mansfield qualified to make sweeping generalizations about the sex lives of bisexuals, gays, and lesbians? Has he done extensive research on the subject, tracing the course of gay relationships and interviewing same-sex partners?

If Mansfield wants to characterize all gays as "unhappy and irresponsible," that is his right; but if he is going to get up on the stand and introduce himself as a Harvard professor before he makes such characterizations, he had best be prepared to display the kind of scholarship that gives this University's name its clout.

Furthermore, Mansfield's dismissal of bisexual, gay, and lesbian contributions to society is condescending and insulting. Gay students contribute to Mansfield's paycheck. More importantly, millions of lesbian, gay, and bisexual Americans vote, do their jobs well, and pay taxes. They are doctors, babysitters, writers, social workers and factory hands. Some hold public office, some serve in the military and some have given their lives for their country. Mansfield's derision of these citizens as having made no contribution to American society other than in the arts and in "undermining conformity" only reveals his own profound ignorance and rank insensitivity.

Professor Mansfield has a right to his opinions, and he is entitled to exercise his right to free speech--no matter how controversial, offensive, or simply incorrect his speech may be. Likewise, as American citizens, every one of us has the right to receive fair treatment at the hands of the law--regardless of what we might choose to do in bed with a consenting partner. We trust that the Colorado court which recently gave rein to Mansfield's freedom of speech will guarantee an equally vital freedom, the freedom to love one another without fear, to a ten percent segment of the population. We urge all members of the Harvard-Radcliffe community to recognize the hurtfulness and the patronizing contempt inherent in professor Mansfield's remarks. And we extend an open invitation to Harvey Mansfield to attend any one of our meetings, in order to learn about queer lifestyles and disabuse himself of the erroneous and harmful prejudices he has made it clear he harbors. Robert E. Giannino '95   Dennis K. Lin '93-'94   Natasha E. Litt '95   Co-Chairs, Harvard-Radcliffe BGLSA