I have supported your choice in publishing some of the most offensive articles I have ever read, including everything from David Horowitz’ islamofascist ad campaign targeting Muslim students on our campus, to the Yes on Prop 8 opinion columns and letters, some of which contain lines that run through my head and keep me up at night: “California voters spoke again in 2008 and you people still won’t shut up. What’s it going to take, free rainbow wristbands and a latte on the go?” (“I Voted “Yes” on Prop 8 And I Am Not Ashamed,” Daily Nexus, Nov. 14).

I supported ALL of these decisions because we, as a group, often needed to be reminded that there are crazies out there. Yes. I said crazies. Anyone who uses “you people” to refer to a political party with far higher percentages of people of color and the queer community needs to examine precisely what their purpose is in attending a liberal arts institution. Throughout all this, my dear Nexus, I have been supportive of your choices to run these articles. As a member of the queer community, which has been attacked in various letters and columns, I supported your running of anti-gay, homophobic columns because people need to know the true world we live in, and what we are to face if we will ever create change.

Until recently, I stood and supported the Nexus’ journalistic integrity, perhaps because I had been a reporter and may have written an article on sea turtles (fact check me, I dare you).

But then, as I was dragging my can’t-legally-get-married, can’t-adopt-in-most-states, can’t-serve-my-country-in-the-military, can’t-give-blood ass across campus, what appeared in front of my wondering eyes but a particular birthday ad? The ad featured two shirtless men, one in front of the other. It said the Daily Nexus wishes blah blah a happy birthday. “We hope you have a gay old time.”

Let me spell it out for you. Two naked straight dudes. One behind the other. Anal sex. Ha ha. Must be gay. So funny. Do you have the next game of pong or what? Do you have journalistic integrity? This is not precisely a use of “you people,” but it promotes the kind of homophobic attitudes that foster the violence against queer people that we saw in Isla Vista this past summer.

I think to myself, is this an overreaction of mine? Then I think, if this were a racial joke regarding communities on our campus, would people speak up then? Would it still have been printed? What makes homophobic jokes okay? This is offensive. Consider this a request for a written apology to the queer community from the Nexus.

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