Our regular writer for the 15th, Will Montei, is indisposed. Abby is filling in, albeit with brevity.
I’m not sure what Chimes was like when you went to Calvin. I’m not sure what the climate toward homosexuality was like when you went to Calvin. I’m not sure what your current feelings toward Chimes or Calvin or homosexuality are. But in the absence of a proper post for today, I would recommend that you check out this feature from today’s issue. It’s relevant and thoughtful.
I could tell you my opinion about the intersection of homosexuality, Calvin, and the church. But I appreciate the simplicity and genuine goodwill of these stories, so I’ll let them speak unaccompanied.
Abby Zwart (’13) teaches high school English in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She spends her free time making lists of books she should read, cooking, and managing the post calvin.
— Abby, I know little else of how to contact you, so I’ll leave a comment here.
I read your Letter To The Editor today. I am dismayed at your suggestion that we need more stories from “straight people.” The majority of Calvin Chimes, students, and staff are straight white people. They do not have limited rights in terms of marriage and don’t receive daily discrimination like our LGBT+ peers do.
Stories from straight, white people are the norm. We don’t need to support the hegemony more that we already do. Sharing the narratives of LGBT+ students, while a first vital step towards empathy, can quickly devolve into congratulatory rhetoric without any action taken towards equality for our LBGT+ brothers and sisters. A continual “conversation” is dead without any conclusion.
–Jacqueline
Hi Jacqueline! Glad you found me here.
I definitely understand your comment. I re-read my letter, and I see that I was perhaps not as clear as I meant to be and should have been. When I wrote that we need to hear the stories of straight students, I was thinking in terms of their stories as they relate to sexuality and homosexuality.
I think the culture of sex and physicality and relationships at Calvin is interesting to observe and pretty flawed in general. I would like to hear stories from students (be they straight or gay I suppose, though gay is much less likely) about why they felt the need to get married at 22. Was it just so they could have sex? Was it because their parents got married at that age? Did they feel pressure from the community to “tie the knot”? “Ring by spring” and all that? That culture bothers me, but I would like to hear where it comes from.
In a similar vein, I would like to hear stories about homosexuality from straight students at Calvin. Clearly the atmosphere they create at Calvin is not welcoming to LGBT students, and I’m interested to hear why they act the way they do. What were straight students taught about homosexuality growing up? Do they have gay friends? Do they talk about sexuality with their peers? If they think homosexuality is wrong, why is that? Where does the belief start? I think these would all be valuable questions to explore. If our culture is unwelcoming, we need to look at the source, not just the effects.
So when I say I’d like to hear the stories of straight students, those are the kind of questions I’d like to ask. I think they’re valuable because you can’t just disregard the background and upbringing of the majority when you’re fighting to give the minority more rights.
I know you and Jon are much more aggressive and protest-orientied about the issue than I am, but I think we have to start small and start by listening to EVERYONE. Maybe that makes me part of the hegemony; I don’t know. I guess I can deal with that because I know I’m not. I agree that LGBT students at Calvin deserve more, but we ‘re not going to convince the majority by ignoring it.
I’m sorry my letter made me sound bigoted to you. It was a letter of praise and certainly wasn’t meant to cause consternation. I wish I had been clearer about what I was suggesting and that I would have had more than 200 words to say it.