Forum: Same-sex 'marriage' in the Quad

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"It's the 'Will and Grace'effect." That's how a friend tries to explain why the majority of my college classmates support homosexual "marriage" even though the majority of Americans do not. Her reference to the popular TV sitcom about two homosexual men in New York is a hollow explanation.

It is clear a generation gap exists on the issue of same-sex "marriage." Much of Generation Y supports it, while most of their Baby Boomer parents oppose it. Last spring, a Harvard poll found 57 percent of students support homosexual "marriage"; 61 percent of the general population opposes it.

Liberal pundits praise the findings, using the numbers as evidence the homosexual rights movement is picking up steam. Sure, the majority of Americans may oppose the homosexual agenda right now, but in 20 years opinions will be reversed.

Psychologists note young people have more favorable opinions of homosexuals than their parents because they know more of them. A Cornell University study found the average "coming out" age now is 16. In the 1970s, it was in the mid-20s.

But none of these explanations gets to the root of the matter -- the real explanation behind all this, an explanation any college student who has ever had to sit through a college ethics course can tell you. There the logic goes something like this: Using moral judgments to disagree with anyone is a secularist's sin. And we are a secular nation. So you could be the biggest "Will and Grace" fan or your best friend could have just stepped out of the closet. But until you've discarded all moral thinking on the issue, you have yet to become that tolerant and understanding person you strive to become.

The key to tolerance and understanding in academia is to tolerate everything and search for understanding in nothing.

Conservatives know universities are petri dishes of liberalism, breeding a culture of political correctness and phony diversity. Nothing's new now.

What conservatives don't realize is that homosexual activists target students. In much the same way they look to the courts to advance their agenda, homosexuals look to college students for validation of their agenda. Over the last decade, this has meant establishing Queer Studies and "sensitivity training courses" at universities. Activists are on campus promoting the same-sex "marriage" debate as the next "civil rights struggle."

Just how committed are homosexual activists to silencing student dissent? Last fall, when I wrote a column in my college newspaper criticizing the Massachusetts's Supreme Court's ruling allowing same-sex "marriages," I expected critical letters from classmates, chiding me for my lack of "tolerance toward others." But what surprised me was the number of angry responses from people across the country that had no tie or affiliation to my school. After my article was posted on our newspaper's Web site, I received more than 30 e-mails, including one from a San Francisco man who said he had been with his partner 29 years. He blamed my Midwestern upbringing: "It's not your fault that you feel this way. You were raised in Nebraska. I am relieved that at least you are obtaining a higher education and are not stuck in some cornfield burning a large cross with a white sheet over your head."

I had purposely not mentioned my religious beliefs, knowing it would only incite my secular audience. Yet most of the responses to my article came from those who claimed to be more "tolerant" than me, although they showed little of it as they attacked my Christian beliefs.

One message posted on the Web site was written in a mocking Southern accent and read:

"Since yer a female, the Bible instructs you to focus on household affairs ... like bakin' cookies or mendin' socks. WOMEN ... KNOW YER PLACE. (but, again, thanks fer yer traditional values stand against those vile, disgustin' pre-verted sodomites)."

Why would anyone waste time responding to a college newspaper column? Perhaps it shows how scared they are of dissent. Or heaven forbid this shows college students aren't as accepting of their lifestyle choices as had been thought.

Students, who argue against the homosexual agenda, can expect an epic fight when they return to campus this fall. The antiwar protesters, who failed to stop the liberation of 20 million Iraqis, hope they've found a new battle they can finally win. Not only is our battlefield full of traditional-value-resisters (a k a college professors and administrators), but now insurgents have joined the fight. That's why I ask, with an advanced apology to my secularist and atheist readers, please, pray for us.

JULIE GUNDERSON

Ms. Gunderson is a Phillips Foundation Journalism Fellow, this summer at the Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute. She is a senior at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn.