Wesleyan offers an escape from a straight-only world By By Sam Bathrick Queerleaders storming the field during halftime of the Homecoming football game was nowhere near as offensive as C.J. MacDonald’s wespeak last Friday. I feel the need to respond, not only to the article, but also to you, C.J., as a fellow straight beer drinking, jock, pussy-loving athlete. The Queerleaders’ halftime show did not ruin the Homecoming football game for me or for my parents who flew up here from the great progressive state of Georgia. I was not “disrespected” or “violated” by the Queerleaders’ demonstration any more than I would have been offended by rows of Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders in booty shorts and bras, thrusting their pom-poms and grinding their fat rabbits in my mother’s face. Actually, I found the halftime show really entertaining, possibly the highlight of the day. I was much more embarrassed and offended by the beating my Wes Cardinals took at the hands of a merciless Williams team. But that’s just my opinion, and you are entitled to yours. There are a lot of things we are entitled to, you and I. You ask a question that is perhaps on the minds of many straight athletes on this campus. Why do some members of the queer community here make such an effort to let everyone know about their sexual preference? Why don’t they just “shut the fuck up,” as you put it. You assume to speak for all of us when you say, “nobody cares.” But I happen to care that queer people have a strong voice in my community. It’s one of the main things that attracted me to this school (it wasn’t the athletic department). It makes sense to me that people who are assumed to be, as you so eloquently described them, “clowns” and “supposed women” seeking “stupid rights” might be a little angry, even militant in their public response. I will say that you and I, CJ, we walk around in a straight, straight world. We are not asked to question our sexuality, ourselves, our human worth. We don’t need some “coming out” day, because we’ve been out and safe our entire lives. We don’t need to chalk how we feel because it’s already written in permanent ink everywhere. We know we are ‘normal’ because every voice, every pixel on our T.V. screens, every law in our American legal system supports the notion that we are. “In the real world” we will rarely hear the word gay unless one of our buddies uses it to put someone else down. We are protected. We are part of the brotherhood. We know our love for our girlfriends is real and normal. No one would dare question that. Heterosexual love and sex is the topic of almost every song that we hear on the radio as we tone our muscles in Freeman Athletic Center. We’ve got mass media on our side. We’ve got women dancing around in their underwear trying to sell us beer. And we are fucking buying it. Everyone, queer and straight alike, is force-fed countless explicitly sexual, heterosexual messages and images every day. Why are you worried about your sister seeing this halftime show when Brittany Spears is running around in a thong singing to thirteen year old girls, “I’m a slave for you?” Do you also worry when Calvin Klein commercials display a man and a woman having passionate sex on the beach? Is that okay with you because it is vaginal intercourse? Aren’t you a little worried your sister might overhear Rap Star Ludacris talking about lick lick licking someone from their head to their toe? Is that less “horrifying” because we’re all pretty sure he’s talking about licking a woman? Maybe you would prefer that the messages given out by certain members of the queer community not be so sexual, honest, or gay. But then you must consider if you are willing to also oppose the extremely sexual, heterosexual messages displayed in flashing lights in every corner of our society. Maybe you should take off your DKNY sunglasses so you can see what’s really going on. So you spent halftime feeling pretty violated. That’s legitimate. What is not, what is “childish,” is that you refuse to see outside your own experience. Those five minutes of discomfort, of uneasiness, of doubt—people feel that way all the time. It’s new for us, but it ain’t new for a lot of people. There are people who are made to feel that way for their whole lives. I don’t claim to know the experience of queer people here at Wesleyan, nor do I think that all queer people feel the same. I can tell you that your opinions do not necessarily reflect the straight community here at Wesleyan. So you had your five minutes. You had a chance to learn something, and you failed miserably. I don’t blame you for being ignorant. You told us all yourself, “I have no clue.” There is no crime in that. I blame you for coming all the way from California to a school that offers a rare form of higher learning, and sleeping through the class. P.S. In the future, try using a thesaurus when writing, so as to avoid using “stupid” and “disgusting” words over and over. Bathrick is a member of the class of 2004.

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