Boston University students have been battling to change the University’s discrimination policy for 20 years now, and it’s time they faced up to the truth: that policy will not change as long as John Silber is still breathing. And you students can rot in hell, as far as he’s concerned.
Recent events have cemented conclusions many of us drew long ago: Silber, that 76-year-old bastion of rigid, old-time moralism, is anti-gay. Or didn’t you know?
His decision two weeks ago to shut down the BU Academy’s gay/lesbian support group was just the latest in a long history of homophobic decrees. It was classic Silber: brutal and offensive, and intended to send a message. From the height of his influence to the quieter years during the Westling presidency, Silber’s message was never obscure.
No doubt, John Silber has no fear of being accused of homophobia. His beliefs on the subject — as on all other subjects — are well documented. In Spring 2001, at the very time when student outrage over BU’s discrimination policy reached yet another peak, Silber expounded on the sin of homosexuality in the School of Theology newsletter, arguing, “Wherever homosexuality is mentioned in the Bible, it is condemned.”
“In study after study,” Silber wrote, “homosexuals report a level of obsessive promiscuity that anyone would consider pathological in a heterosexual.”
Silber’s editorial, drawn out over 3,000 words, smacks home the idea that gay men — bastard children of the Bible — are a risk to the community. He supports the Boy Scouts of America’s right to ban gays, contending, “Few parents would allow their boys to join the Scouts if they believed the scoutmaster was a homosexual … By refusing to allow homosexuals to be scoutmasters, the Boy Scouts of America recognize the wisdom of the prayer ‘Lead us not into temptation.'”
Comments like these are expected from Silber, the only Democrat capable of driving the gay vote to the Republicans, as he did in his 1990 bid for governor. During that election, Silber took heat for displaying open hostility toward BU’s gay and lesbian advocacy organization, reportedly refusing requests to meet with them. The result was a strong Republican turnout in districts with long liberal traditions.
“There’s no question Dr. Silber has a history of intolerance toward gay and lesbian people,” said David LaFontaine, former chairman of the Governor’s Commission on Gay ‘ Lesbian Youth. “I think he has deliberately clouded the issue to conceal his belief that gay and lesbian people don’t deserve equal rights.”
Silber clouded his cut of the BU Academy GSA with some of the most ludicrous arguments available to him. In the first place, he would have us believe the BU Academy is free of all intolerance and bigotry. With only the brightest and most promising students accepted — and an advanced, no-nonsense curriculum — shouldn’t the Academy be a place where labels are unnecessary?
Of course not. No high school kid is impervious to discrimination, no matter what Great Society we imagine we’ve built for him. Add to that reports of high suicide, depression and dropout rates among gay teens — combined with the isolation of the studious Academy pupils from their peers — and the need for a gay and lesbian support group seems beyond doubt.
Silber doesn’t stop there. He further asserts that gay/lesbian support groups encourage youths to be sexually active. By this logic, Silber seems to think that adolescents will be safer if they are kept in the dark about sex. Little wonder then that condoms continue to be unavailable to students on campus, as BU continues to shun the free dissemination of contraceptives.
Of course, Silber’s frequent statements on sexuality — in gays or straights, but particularly in students — hint at his distrust of sexual behavior. His comments on the Guest Policy last year suggested that, given the chance, most students would be unable to control their sexual impulses maturely. Those comments echo his remarks to The Boston Globe last week, in which he assailed the University’s disproportionate male-to-female ratio because of its potential to “spoil the character of the women.”
Some might just file these comments under the long list of Silber Shockers. But there’s much more to them than that. They are part of an ideology, formed somewhere along the path from Texas to Boston. And they are not harmless.
Truth be told, it is far too late to make Silber see the light. But under no circumstances should he continue to preach his hateful messages to the students of his university. Students must know when to stop listening. Sadly, that just may be the most important lesson Silber has to offer.
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