Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual &Transgender Studies

UD may offer gay studies minor program Professor: Students in public policy, law, arts may be interested By SEAN O'SULLIVAN Staff reporter, Delaware News Journal 01/21/2003 A University of Delaware faculty committee is working on a proposal that could establish a new minor in gay studies, making UD one of about 30 other colleges and universities that offer similar programs. ....

It may seem odd that a university should consider such a proposal, but there are in fact already some that offer formal LGBT courses and certification.

One of those is the University of Maryland, where campus police recently had problems with removing non-students who were frequenting campus washrooms in search of candidates for homosexual liaisons:

Have A Problem With Creepy Guys Hanging Around Public Restrooms? You Homophobe! FOXNews.com Rampant homophobia Efforts by campus cops to crack down on non-students who use public restrooms for random gay-sex encounters are being called homophobic by some folks in the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning (GLBTQ) community, reports The Chronicle of Higher Education. (Sorry, that web page is no longer accessible, neither at its original location nor at the Internet archive) After a number of complaints, officials at Boston University cracked down and began arresting violators on charges of indecent exposure or lewd and lascivious behavior. Other campuses have seen similar crackdowns. But some gay students say persecuting participants in this so-called "tearoom" culture is discriminatory. "Heterosexual couples exploring sex on Lovers' Lane is romanticized, but same-sex sex is treated differently," says Luke Jensen of the University of Maryland at College Park. "The question of public versus private can be a shifting paradigm. Why is a bathroom stall considered a private space except when it comes to sex?" Supporters say the practice also is an integral part of the coming-out process for homosexuals. "For some men, their whole connection with gay life stemmed from their experiences in bathrooms," says William L. Leap, a professor of anthropology at American University and the editor of the book, Public Sex/Gay Space. "Tearooms became the basis for social interactions, a way of getting into a friendship network."

There you have it. Having sex with a member of the same sex in a public washroom may not be your cup of tea, but it is ostensibly quite normal behaviour, a mere act of socializing, nothing more significant than having a nice social cup of tea.

There are more leads to more universities offering GLBT courses and certificates.

Will our children be safe from sexual predation when they go to college, safe from sexual affairs and encounters that can be deadly but carry no more significance in the minds of some people than to imbibe a cup of tea? Surely they must be. Isn't all of the progress toward increasing sexual freedom in pursuit of a more enlightened society in which everything and anything will be done only when it is in the best interest of our children?

By the way, a search for "GLBT studies" produced 985 search returns, one for "LGBT studies produced 2,200", one for "Women's studies" produced 796,000 and one for "men's studies" 23,000. It is now possible to obtain degrees in GLBT studies and in Women's studies. In spite of the great extent of interest reflected by the 23,000 search returns for men's studies and although men are at the focus of many studies not so much examining but promoting women's- and GLBT rights, no men's studies certification is on offer anywhere. Nevertheless, it appears that heterosexual men are seen as the problem in women's and GLBT studies.

That should not surprise anyone. There are parallels in history.  Under Hitler's implementation of radically new ways of thinking the situation was very much the same in relation to "the Jewish problem". No politically correct university at the time would have dared to launch or conduct study programs that investigated or promoted Jewish values any more than one would dare launch a men's studies program today. Nevertheless, it's as "normal" for homosexuals to "socialize" in public bathrooms now as it was during Hitler's time for uniformed racist extremists to march in the streets in lock-step to the sound of drums and fanfares.

Political correctness and totalitarianism work in the same fashion anywhere and anytime, but their targets change with the winds of politics.

Back to Index of Health Issues

See also:

Feminism For Male College Students — A Short Guide to the Truth, by Angry Harry (Off-Site)

---

The White Rose
Thoughts are Free

__________________
Posted 2003 01 27
Updates:
2006 03 04 (added link to Feminism for Male College Students)
2007 12 14 (reformated)