Bryce

The Second Semester

Chapter 39 - GLBT Committee Meeting

            On Wednesday, April 7, there was a meeting of the Executive Committee of the GLBT Club scheduled for 11:00 a.m.  None of the members had classes at that time, or the following hour.  President Gary Woodson asked the members to get whatever lunch they needed ahead of time, and plan to spend the entire two hours if necessary.  On the agenda were three items, viz., 1) the upcoming open meeting with the Biology honors society at which Dr. Harris would give a presentation entitled “Biological Factors in Sexual Orientation;” 2) the proposed change of the name of the organization, placing Lesbian before Gay in the title, in keeping with widespread practice; and 3) a proposal from several members that the Club begin an effort to banish the ROTC program from the U of C campus.

            In attendance were Gary Woodson, President; Felicity Gaines, Vice-President; Bryce Winslow, Secretary; Paul Freiling, Treasurer; Scott Huong, at-large member; Mike Sandoval, at-large member; Gayle Swinford, at-large member; and Dr. Conrad Westover, Faculty Advisor.  Also present because he was the proposer of the effort to banish the ROTC program was a student named Cody Underwood.  There was a clash before the meeting even got started when Scott arrived wearing fatigues.  He said nothing, but had what Mike characterized to Bryce as “a shitty grin” across his face.  The fatigues sent Cary into a frenzy, and it took all of Gary’s diplomatic skills to get the meeting started with even a modicum of decorum.

            The easiest item of business was the upcoming meeting.  In keeping with their agreement with the Tri-Betas, the GLBT people had already been busy.  The auditorium for the presentation was reserved, with arrangements made for a podium and a microphone.  One of the members who was an electrical engineering major agreed to provide the kind of system which involved a clip-on microphone which Dr. Harris could attach to his lapel or tie and a transmitting system contained in a small piece of equipment which could be set up near the back of the auditorium, and monitored for loudness and static by the volunteer EE.  In addition, there were news items posted on several sites on the University web site, including not only the GLBT page and the Tri-Beta page, but also general campus news locations to attract interested students from all segments of the campus.  Flyers were also posted on bulletin boards near the campus Post Office in the University Center and especially near the entrances to the various eating places.  All seemed to be on schedule, with no obvious hitches there.

            Felicity and Gayle presented the proposal to change the name of the organization.  Their argument consisted of two major points, viz., 1) females had been discriminated against historically, and female homosexuals more than male homosexuals, so it was only a matter of compensating for this historic injustice to give the females first billing; and 2) nationwide it was increasingly the accepted form for similar organizations on campuses and elsewhere.  Both presenters were moderate and reasonable in their presentation, leaving a positive impression on most of their audience.  Gary Woodson again pointed out, as he had previously when this item was discussed, that the present name was that accepted by the University administration, and any change would have to receive the consent of the Student Senate Committee on Clubs and Organizations, and of the Vice-President for Student Affairs, Dr. Burnett, for whom none of them had any respect.  He was the consummate brown-nosing bureaucrat, obsequious to those above him in the University hierarchy, but petty and authoritarian to those he considered his inferiors.  That seemed to include all students.

            Bryce noted, as a side comment, not in opposition to the basic proposal, that he was uncomfortable with the idea that the present generation had to make some kind of compensation for the injustices of the past.  He said each person should be responsible for his or her own actions, but not for those of hypothetical ancestors.  “I don’t think I treat females in a condescending manner, and I never owned slaves, nor was I complicit in the Nazi extermination camps.  I have enough to answer for, without taking on the guilt of the entire human race.”  As a result of this comment, the two females agreed to modify their comments along those lines when the measure was presented to the full membership.  Mike quietly whispered to Bryce, “Jesus did that on Calvary, so we don’t have to.”

            Not surprisingly, it was Paul’s reaction to the proposal which created the most heat.  After Bryce’s mild comment, Paul practically burst into the debate. In a loud voice straining with tension, he attacked the proposal as itself unjust.  The vast majority of homosexuals were male, he asserted, and the vast majority of members of the Club were male.  To put them in second place in order to cater to the sensibilities of a few was clearly unjust.  He went on for some time about the females expecting special treatment.  “You don’t want equality, no matter what you say,” he insisted.  “What you want is to rule the roost.  You want to have your own way, and keep the male segment of the population in subordination.”  He then went into a long diatribe, claiming that the idea that females had been abused and oppressed in the past was a myth.  While they did not hold public office, they actually ran things from behind the scenes, he asserted.

            After some time, Gary found it necessary to call Paul’s comments to a halt.  “I think we all got the message that you are opposed to this measure, and further commentary seems to be counter-productive,” he ruled.

            Paul sulked at that, but, finding no support among the other members, he retreated into silence, interrupted by muttered comments from time to time.

            Felicity, after consulting with Gayle, offered to be the Club representative to deal with the Student Government Association and the University administration in the event that the proposal be adopted.

            That raised the matter of when the proposal could be acted on.  They had been talking about placing it before the entire membership, but it would be inappropriate to bring up regular business, especially potentially divisive business, at the meeting where Dr. Harris would be speaking.  That would be most impolite to their guest speaker.  However, there was only one later meeting scheduled before the end of the semester.  That was on May 12, which was also in this year 2010 the first day of final exams at the end of the semester.  No one seems to have consulted the academic calendar before this, or, at least, had not been paying attention.  It would be virtually impossible to get any kind of action from the Student Government at that point in the semester, and the proposal had to be acted on there before being presented to Dr. Burnett.  Knowing him, he would just love to toss it out if there were even a hint of not following due process.  Did all this mean that nothing could be done until next fall?  At that, Paul seemed quite satisfied.

            Mike Sandoval, however, suggested that it was not necessary that the proposal be acted on at a regular Club meeting.  Instead, the wording of the proposed changes to the Club constitution could be posted on the Club web site, and arrangements made for a special forum in which arguments could be made pro and con.  Each member could then vote electronically, using his or her student identification number to prevent voter fraud, with a date and time established after which the results would be tabulated and considered final.  Such an approach would still give Felicity and Gayle plenty of time to work with the Student Government and the Administration.  The two female members of the Committee looked relieved at that suggestion, and immediately gave it their approval.  Paul, on the other hand, raised all kinds of hypothetical situations in which a member might be disenfranchised unjustly.  Bryce could not refrain from pointing out that most of those scenarios also applied to a member simply missing attending a meeting.  After entirely too much discussion, as people began to repeat themselves, Gary called for a vote.  With only one negative vote, it was resolved to place the proposed name change before the membership, with added provisions governing the role of Felicity and Gayle, and the use of the Club web site as proposed by Mike.

            That brought them down to the third item on the agenda, the proposal that the Club undertake a campus-wide effort to banish the ROTC program from the University.  Cody Underwood did not have a vote on the Executive Committee, but was present to present this proposal as the spokesman for those who supported it.  As far as Bryce was concerned, Cody began at a disadvantage.  He had been one of those who took part in the demonstration at the beginning of the semester, although not one of the principle actors.  He had been among those who walked out of the Club meeting which followed when the majority refused to fully support the protesters.  He had refused to pay Club dues until last week, when he did so in order to be allowed to present his proposal to the Executive Committee.  In addition, Cody was almost a caricature of the homophobe’s idea of a gay man.  He was slight of build.  He had hair dyed a bright purple, almost shaved on the sides but coming down to his shoulders behind, as well as being spiked on top.  He either had a particularly florid complexion or else used some kind of rouge.  He definitely used artificial means of bringing attention to his eyes.  Moreover, rather than walk, Cody minced.  He had a weak handshake.  And he spoke in a falsetto, and lisped.  Bryce considered that those who favored this proposal could not have chosen a worse spokesman if they wanted it to receive serious attention.

            Cody began by objecting to Scott wearing his fatigues at the meeting.  He asserted that this was an insult to all gay and lesbian students because of the homophobic policies of the military.  Scott responded that he was a member of the ROTC program, and had every right to wear his fatigues.  “My family fled Saigon in 1975 as the Viet Cong were taking over.  My father was a child then, but I heard the story many times from my grandfather and grandmother.  They told me of the tortures practiced on their enemies by the Reds.  My uncle had his left arm chopped off by the Cong because he had been inoculated by American medics.  He was only six years old at the time.  When my family fled the country, they had absolutely nothing, unlike some of the bigwigs who got out sooner.  But the Americans took care of them.  It was hard.  They lived in refugee camps for a couple of years.  Then, a church took them on as a project.  They found them a place to live, and found jobs for my grandfather and his brother.  They sent my father and his brothers and sisters to school.  They did not have to do this.  I doubt that any other country would be as generous.  I love this country.  It has been good to me and to my family, giving us a better life than we could ever expect back in Vietnam.  I will fight for this country.  Not necessarily for any particular administration or any particular policy, but for the country.  If necessary, I will die for it.  There is no way I will support tossing the ROTC program off campus.  A little more than a year from now, I expect to graduate, and at that time I will be commissioned an officer in the United States Army, and I am proud of that fact.”

            Cody had been restrained from interrupting several times during this statement.  When at last he was given the floor, he launched into an attack on the military, not restricting himself to criticism of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy,* but accusing the military of all sorts of crimes and misdemeanors, claiming the military wanted to establish a dictatorship in this country, and were undermining the economy and the electoral process in order to provoke a national crisis which would allow them to seize control.  When Mike asked what his evidence was for these accusations, he merely screeched, “Everyone knows this unless you’re part of the problem!”

            Debate was even more heated than when Paul was attacking the female members of society.  At one point, Cody expressed doubt about Scott’s story about his family being adopted by a church.  Scott replied that it was quite common for Vietnam refugee families to receive support from churches, and many churches continued to offer such services to refugees, including those from Bosnia, Iraq, and the Sudan.  He offered to take Cody to St. John Vianny Parish in Louisville and introduce him to some of the current refugee families being aided by his church.

            Cody then went off on another emotional rampage against the Catholic Church, asserting that the Church was involved in a conspiracy with the military to force gays and lesbians back into the closet.  He then took off on so-called ‘reorientation’ camps, which claimed to turn gays into straight guys, and claimed that they were run by the Catholic Church.  At that, Bryce objected.  “You have a right to your opinions as far as my Church is concerned, but I cannot keep silent when you spread false stories like this.  I challenge you to produce a single such camp run by the Catholic Church,”

            “How can you say it’s your church when the Pope and the bishops are always making homophobic statements?” Cody challenged Bryce in return.

            “It’s mine because I truly believe it is the Church founded by Jesus Christ, and I will not be forced out by stupid statements by the hierarchy.  Even if you don’t believe in the Church as of divine institution, however, as a practical measure it makes more sense to me to stay and work from within to bring about change.  After all, Catholics make up something in excess of a fifth of the world’s population.  Moving the Church towards a more flexible, a more charitable, I might even say a more Christian policy makes a lot more sense to me than going off half-cocked and joining up with some splinter group,” Bryce asserted.

            “Well, you’re not making much progress, if that’s your goal,” Paul contributed to the debate.  “I read where the Catholic Church in San Francisco pulled out of the business of adoptions because they refused to place children in gay homes.”

            “You’re right, and I agree, that was stupid and a sign of prejudice, but no more so than the decision of the San Francisco Board of Education to ban JROTC programs from all the public schools.  That deprived hundreds of kids of the stability and self discipline those programs inculcate, and was especially hard on kids from poor families and dysfunctional homes,” Bryce replied.  “Substituting physical education courses is not the same.  That approach lacks the patriotism and the esprit de corps which gives someone an incentive outside himself to exercise balance and restraint, self-discipline.”

            “That’s another sign of the conspiracy between the army and the Catholic Church,” Cody yelled.  “They’re both into brainwashing poor and vulnerable kids into adopting their authoritarian line.  That decision was a whiff of freedom for those kids.”

            “Freedom to spend their entire lives in poverty.  Freedom to resort to drugs because they lack the discipline to deal with disappointment.  Freedom to put up with abuse generation after generation,” Bryce responded.

            “Bryce is right,” Scott insisted.  “I am an example of how such programs give kids from disadvantaged backgrounds the possibility of moving up, getting out of the conditions in which they were born, and making a better life for themselves.  I was in JROTC in high school, and I learned a lot about taking responsibility for my own life, and being concerned about the country as a whole.  Contrary to what it’s enemies say, there is no coercion involved.  There is no commitment until you reach my stage, the third year in a senior ROTC program.”

            “No!  No!  All propaganda!  All part of the conspiracy to dominate the rest of us!” Cody frantically insisted.

            “Is one form of prejudice more evil than another?” Felicity asked.  “Is the homophobia of the Catholic hierarchy worse than the anti-Catholicism exhibited by Cody, or the anti-female attitude exhibited by Paul?  I say ‘no’ to both questions.”

            Cody began to yell about treason to the gay cause, but Gary rapped on the table with his gavel.  “I think we’re wandering quite far from the matter before this Committee.  After all, we can’t change things in San Francisco.  Let’s get back to the proposal before us.”

            “Yeah,” Mike mumbled, “besides, if it’s something in California, it can’t matter much anyway.  Wait a year or two, and some new fad will entirely swamp it.”

            Gary called that out of order, too, but grinned as he did.

            “Exactly what is it that you and your group want us to do?” Gary asked Cody.

            “We want the GLBT Club to spearhead a drive to sever all connection between the University and the military, beginning with collecting names on a petition, and also holding a forum on this topic in which the abuses of the military will be exposed,” Cody stated.

            “Wait a minute,” Scott insisted.  “You said you want to University to sever all ties with the military.  What about contracts for research with various DOD agencies?”

            “Yes!  That has to go, too.  That’s just another way of manipulating society.  They get people dependent on these grants, and then force them to testify to whatever they want as part of their propaganda,” Cody stated.

            “Cutting out such grants would significantly harm many existing programs, not only in my Department of Physics, but in many other departments in the sciences and engineering.  From my experience, I kind of doubt that any of my professor could be coerced into testifying to anything they did not believe to be true.  Besides, your proposal would also mean an end to many student scholarships and campus jobs.  Have you thought of that?” Scott asked.

            “I’m sure more acceptable sources can be found,” Cody asserted.

            “I think that’s pretty cavalier, tossing out many students’ sources of support without any real evidence of any alternative,” Gayle commented.  “As a Sociology major, with an interest in Social Work, I am concerned about the social ramifications of this proposal which have been raised here this morning.”

            “It seems to me,” Mike said, “this proposal is very ill-planned.  Much of the support for it seems based on emotional responses to questionable assertions.  We have been given no real evidence in support of it.  Moreover, the supporters of the proposal do not seem to have considered the consequences of their proposal.  That’s simply irresponsible.  We’ve also been given no indication of how many GLBT Club members support it.  I move that we table this proposal sine die, until the supporters can respond in a rational manner to the objections raised here this morning.”

            “I second that motion,” Scott chimed in.

            Cody attempted to object, but Gary pointed out that he was not a member of the Committee, and had no vote.  The vote was taken, and the motion passed with only Paul voting no.  He was still upset about the support given the females, and having his position placed in the category of mere prejudice.  Cody left in a dudgeon, claiming that the leadership again betrayed the gay cause, just as it had back in January.  The others gave a sigh of relief that the meeting was over.

            As they were breaking up, Gary teased Bryce.  “I was surprised to hear you say the position of your Church was actually unchristian.”

            Bryce sighed.  “Some days, it’s not easy being a gay Catholic.  I am reminded of something written by Flannery O’Connor a long time ago.  I can’t quote her exactly, but it was something to the effect that Jesus did not guarantee that his Church would be run by sinless people, or even by intelligent people.  He only guaranteed that it would never teach false doctrine.  I mentioned that to Damon only yesterday.  Odd, but it seems that opportunities to use a bit of information like that come in clusters.  I’ll have to look up the exact quotation before I need it again.”

            Gary grinned, and passed out of the room.  Scott came up to Bryce.  “I didn’t know you were Catholic.  I’m glad I’m not the only one here.”

            “More of us than you realize,” Bryce replied.  “Mike is one of us, too.”

            “No, really?” Scott wondered.

            Mike, who had joined them in the middle of the conversation, whispered, “Sssshhhhh.  It’s a conspiracy.”

            Later that day, when Bryce gave an account of the meeting to Damon, his partner responded, “That reminds me of some of the BSO meetings I attended last semester.  Some people are determined to find someone else to blame for all their problems, whether it’s Cody and the military for Mr. Aeropostale and the white racists.”

            “It’s all Adam’s fault,” Bryce asserted, tongue firmly in cheek.

            “Adam who?” Damon unsuspectingly asked.

            “I don’t think he had a last name,” Bryce said.  “That guy who had that cushy place in the Garden of Eden.  If he had not sinned, we’d all be on easy street.”

            Damon attacked him.