UI College Republicans’ message discriminates

As someone who is also offended by Conservative Coming Out Week, I stand in support of the message Professor Ellen Lewin was trying to convey in her email response to the University of Iowa College Republicans. Though her choice of language was inappropriate, so is the College Republicans' shameless promotion of bigotry on our campus.

The College Republicans certainly have a right to express their views and were well within their rights as a student organization to send an email to the entire university community. However, the university also has a policy of non-discrimination, which “prohibits discrimination … on the basis of race, national origin, color, creed, religion, sex, age, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or associational preference.”

I'm sure that students on our campus who have come out as LGBT or are in the process of doing so feel that this insensitive appropriation of a phrase that is endowed with deep cultural and historical significance for the LGBT community is indeed discrimination. In 2007, the College Republicans promoted a game of “Catch an Illegal Immigrant.”

How could students who are non-U.S. citizens, or are perhaps perceived to be non-citizens, not feel threatened walking around campus that day?

There is a difference between expressing a political opinion and engaging in hate and discrimination. The College Republicans have done the latter.

Allie Panther

UI senior

Iowa City