Mere Tolerance

If genuine religious faith seems increasingly rare nowadays, genuine respect for religious faith seems even rarer. And the same holds true at Harvard. In the wake of Coming Out Week and a slew of homophobic graffiti in several River Houses, the Undergraduate Council has brought an oft-attacked policy of the Freshmen Dean Office (FDO) to the forefront of undergraduate debate. On Oct. 24, the council created a task force to work for the end of the FDO's policy of allowing incoming first-years placed with gay roommates to change rooms prior to their arrival at Harvard.

The council believes this policy creates "an environment in which homophobia is seen as an acceptable belief which should be accommodated." Now, some first-years who request room changes may indeed be homophobes: they may bear an irrational fear or hate of gays. Some, one guesses, neither hate nor fear gays but would feel uncomfortable living with a gay student nonetheless. And some are probably devout Christians whose faith grounds their opposition to homosexuality, promiscuity, and the like. But the council bills, which fairly represent recent campus dialogue on this issue, classify all under the genus "homophobia," in effect equating Christians to bigots.

The FDO's is a sensible policy for several reasons, the best of which is both simple and secular: just as males should not be forced to live with females, straight students should not be forced to live with gays. Potential sexual attraction and its attendant discomfort can make the daily grind of dorm life unbearable.

More importantly, the current FDO policy recognizes the genuine, heartfelt religious faith of many incoming students, Christian and otherwise. These students are probably not rare--at least, 83 percent of Americans call themselves Christians, and 65 percent of Americans oppose gay marriage.

Nor are they dangerous. The most interesting students here tend to be those who genuinely believe something, those who stand apart from the merely tolerant ranks of hollow men. Rare are the students who can keep their faith when all about them are losing theirs. They should not be taken for granted.

But for the University to force students with deep-seated moral qualms about homosexuality to attempt to live with a gay roommate is to disregard what, for many, is a core religious belief. Students whose faith leads them to this belief have become unwitting targets of campus angst.

For instance, the much-criticized BGLTSA postering campaign during Coming Out Week aimed to shock all decent students, but none so much as Christians. Posters like "Every Tenth Jesus is Gay," "St. Sebastian: the first fag in the military" and "I praise the good Lord with my wet, quivering clitoris," could serve no other purpose besides insulting and intimidating the faithful. But as disgruntled undergraduates, prospective students and bubbly tour groups milled through the Yard, the signs remained. If gays were to face the abuse they heap indiscriminately on Christian students, one would not expect similar docility.

Unfortunately, several gay students and tutors have experienced similar abuse in the form of hateful graffiti. A veritable uproar of indignation has followed news of the graffiti, and rightly so. The one or more confused and decidedly un-Christian people responsible for it should be punished severely when caught. But, honestly, the graffiti was no more obscene (how could it be?) than the BGLTSA flyers posted across Harvard Yard.

Thoughtful gay activists want nothing more than for religious objectors to reconsider their convictions. This ascendant breed of impassioned and often arational dialogue, however, makes it extremely difficult for Christian students to sort out their thoughts on homosexuality.

If being pro-gay means being anti-Christian or requiring Christians to check some of their most important moral beliefs at Johnston Gate, many will surely decline the invitation without hesitation. But respecting gay students should not require abandoning respect for Christian faith, and proponents of changing the FDO's rooming policy should ensure that it does not.

Hugh P. Liebert '01 is a social studies concentrator in Eliot House. His column appears on alternate Tuesdays.