By Kevin Hershey
8:10 a.m. classes. Commons food. Intervisitation. Core courses. These are all some of the least desirable and most often criticized aspects of life here on The Bluff. Not by coincidence, they are also just a few of many things that UP students like to describe as "retarded" and "gay."
I'd like to first point out the utter absurdity of even using these words in reference to concepts or inanimate objects that are not even remotely associated with mental disabilities or a sexual orientation (with the possible exception of intervisitation rules because they do indeed encourage only people of the same sex to sleep with one another.)
In most contexts, however, these words just do not make sense. If the wilting lettuce in the Commons salad bar or the servers' refusal to give more than one piece of pizza on Mondays is "gay," does that then make the chicken wraps and the cookies straight?
I have trouble seeing how any type of college cafeteria food could be in any way related to sexual preference and it seems to me that one who does make this association has his or her own sexual issues if he or she thinks about the Commons as at all erotic. Furthermore, how can my 8:10 a.m. class be "retarded" when, although I may not enjoy waking up for it, it is taught by a competent professor with a Ph. D and it is taken by students who were selected to attend a private university? A student who feels comfortable using a term that is intended to describe a mental disability and instead uses it to express his or her feelings about a challenging or annoying course may have a cognitive issue of their own.
Not only does students' use of the words "gay" and "retarded" make little sense and cause them to appear uneducated, it is also extremely offensive and hateful. Apparently, our generation has learned to associate negative things with homosexuality and mental retardation. We now use these words as synonyms for stupid, annoying, difficult and wrong without even considering the fact that many people live with and celebrate their sexuality or their mental condition as part of their daily lives.
Having gay friends and family members, it is appalling to hear their very identity demeaned to describe something as trivial as a difficult exams or a silly school rule.
Also, consider someone like Leonardo da Vinci, who is thought to have been homosexual. Not many would dismiss his Mona Lisa as "gay." If we use gay as a synonym for stupid and useless, it really is not fitting to call Leonardo da Vinci gay, although he very well may have been. In fact, I doubt if any single person on this campus, gay or straight, is anywhere near a match for the genius of this gay artist.
Likewise, Virginia Woolf is thought to have been gay, but we still celebrate her contributions to literature and do not call her works "gay." Even Plato, whose writing we still read in our Philosophy classes, is thought to have had homosexual tendencies and he did have a positive view of same-sex coupling. None of these great contributors to our society deserve to be compared to Commons food or intervisitation rules.
Along with millions of other inspiring people, those listed above have absolutely nothing in common with what we students refer to as being gay. If we actually look at the many examples of outstanding homosexuals, we might say that the chicken wraps, the soccer team or any other desirable part of life on the bluff is gay.
The same applies to people who have mental retardation. Having worked in close contact with a variety of mentally retarded people, I can say that they too have much more to offer the world than Commons food. Indeed, some of the mentally handicapped people with whom I've worked have taught me considerably more about life than any "retarded" professor could in any "retarded" 8:10 a.m. class.
Like homosexuals, these people are human beings and it diminishes their dignity for us to compare their cognitive abilities to what we most dislike. You wouldn't call your homework assignment "so African American" nor would you call your final exam "so Jewish." That would be wrong and hateful because you would be using someone's birthright as a way to demean him or her and turning the way a person was born into a mockery.
The same applies to homosexuality and retardation. Consider using a thesaurus next time you want to express negative sentiments about something or someone because there are thousands of words to use. I can guarantee that gay and retarded are NOT among them.
Kevin Hershey is a sophomore Spanish major
