I am a student at NDSU and I read the column today on LGBTQ for the first time. At first glance I was a bit thrown off because the general conscientious amongst us college students is that we are more than accepting of diversity. We are in the era that previous generations frown upon because we’ve become so accepting of things which were previously regarded as wrong. So when I read that members of the LGBTQ community are being harassed or feel out of place on campus, I can’t help but to be confused by that statement. I think this is evidence that you need to present. In regards to the general college community being so accepting, you have to see that this article is an attack on those students which are still confined to their conservative upbringings. I really believe that there aren’t too many people in this group, so these people know who they are and I bet they were frustrated with this column. 

The idea is that we should be trying to open people’s eyes to what previous generations were blind too, which is the ability to reprocess. For some reason we tend to hold our beliefs so tight that even the slightest deviation causes us to go on the defensive end. With that being said, the arguments made in the column which were intended to defend the LGBTQ community, appear merely as adolescent comments. The article seems to be answering the problem with a question, namely why not? This can be done with anything, for instance, 

Person 1: “why should we repaint the building?”

Person2: well, why not? 

Also, the target group should be outside the college, so we should try and rally college students for help, not beat on the heads of the small group that are against the LGBTQ community. I really don’t think there is any convincing about LGBTQ acceptance that needs to be preached to us because we already know and are accepting.  Again, I love the idea of the article, but I think the presentation is no different than that in which we’ve all encountered. 

Faraad Armwood, graduate student