Editor:

Tuesday, Oct. 11, marks the 18th anniversary of the first national march on Washington by queer Americans and their straight allies. Now known as National Coming Out Day, Oct. 11 is an important day for LGBT people on the U campus and across the country.

It is interesting that the day before this momentous commemoration, The Daily Utah Chronicle chose to publish the opinion of Ed Stevenson (“Not that there’s anything wrong with that …,” Oct. 10). Stevenson uses rhetoric that is patently offensive to his fellow students.

By using demeaning terms such as the “homosexual lexicon” and vaguely referring to statistics without citing specific studies or from where the information was obtained, Stevenson has lost all credibility.

We were shocked that an article so poorly researched would be published in The Chronicle.

In addition to inadequate research, Stevenson has a fundamental misunderstanding of what he did look up. In particular, Stevenson seems to misunderstand the phrase “sexual orientation.”

While sexual orientation includes sexual attraction, it also includes a variety of other factors, including gender identity, emotional attraction and others.

Next time Stevenson wants to write an article indicting such a large segment of the community, he should consider consulting the experts in the gender studies and psychology departments.

Perhaps the weakest part of Stevenson’s article is his citation of Anne Heche as a person of vacillating sexual orientation.

Lest we forget, Anne Heche has called herself God and was picked up in a stranger’s backyard claiming that she was going to be abducted by aliens.

The bizarre and unstable behavior of one individual cannot be considered systematically demonstrative of queer identity in America.

Queer people are not a class, either. It’s true, there’s nothing wrong with straight, white males like Ed Stevenson disliking what gay people do, but there are plenty of things wrong with his questionable and inflammatory remarks.

Thomas Nelson

Sophomore, Mass Communication

Bonnie Owens

Sophomore, Gender Studies

Co-Presidents, Lesbian & Gay

Student Union