Explain policy regarding OutreachND
Marlayna Soenneker
Here We Go Again
When something like Sept. 11 happens, we tend to focus in on it until we forget that anything else is happening in the world.
We talk about perspective and remembering what is important, and sometimes we assume that everything that isn't as world-changing as that event simply isn't important.
That's not true, and that's been brought home to me in a lot of ways over the last month.
The major event that brought this message home to me was learning that on Sept. 11, the services of the rape crisis center I volunteer at were required, because even on that day of mass horror, someone was being raped.
So the fact is that, while Sept. 11 is probably the most historically important event any of us have ever seen, it does not make other events unimportant.
Life goes on, injustice continues, and those things are still meaningful. So, despite the fact that today is the one month anniversary of those attacks, that is not what I am going to write about.
I am going to write about one of the other important things, which we should not allow ourselves to forget.
Today is National Coming Out Day. It is a day to encourage gay, lesbian and bisexual members of our community to be honest with themselves, their friends and family and the world as a whole.
It is a day to stand next to them, to support them and to help them find their way through a life, a world and a time that are difficult enough for those who do fit the norm and becomes doubly so for those who do not.
Last week Notre Dame denied club status to OutreachND for the third time since I have been here. For those who do not know, OutreachND is a student support organization for gays, lesbians and bisexuals on campus.
Every year they faithfully apply for club status, which would give them the right to meet on campus and have a table at activities night, among other benefits, and every year the University turns them down.
The only reason I have heard given is that the University is unsure it can endorse everything that OutreachND stands for, and thus does not want to approve the club because that approval could be taken as approval for everything the club stands for.
My freshman year I attended a question and answer session with Father Edward Malloy in my dorm just after the decision not to extend club status to Outreach was made.
The question came up as to why this decision had been made, and Malloy reiterated the blanked statement I explained above.
When pressed as to what Outreach stands for that Notre Dame couldn't endorse, he less-than-artfully dodged the question by stating that he didn't want to turn the whole night into a discussion of OutreachND. And that was the end of that.
I'm tired of listening to the University tell its students to stand with the gays, lesbians and bisexuals in our community on the one hand, and then refusing to allow them the opportunity to find support in one another on the other hand.
While the University does have campus ministry groups to help these students, I imagine there is a limit to how far these groups can really help.
I would definitely not want my sexuality mediated to me through the Church, and I'm of the orientation that the Church doesn't denounce as fundamentally disordered.
It must be incredibly difficult to become comfortable with your sexuality at the same time you are being indoctrinated to believe that you are fundamentally disordered because of it.
It's hypocritical of the University to preach tolerance, support, solidarity and community and then not allow these students to practice it.
The way the University has dodged the question of why they make this decision is ridiculous and disrespectful to the student body.
I haven't attended any Outreach meetings, but I am relatively sure that they aren't about sex so I'm not really clear on what the University disagrees with so strongly.
The administration's absolute refusal to explain this decision is insulting. So today, rather than concentrating on the gay, lesbian and bisexual members of our community, I want to concentrate on the administration.
I want to encourage them to come out of the closet of secrecy around their decision about Outreach. I want to support them as they change their policies to rectify the vast chasm between what they preach and what they put into practice.
I want to stand by them as one people in Christ who love all and do not punish those who are different. I want to help them find a way to help our friends and classmates find their way through a difficult life.
And I want to wish everyone a happy Coming Out Day.
Marlayna Soenneker is a junior psychology and theology major. Today is Marlayna's 20th birthday. She would like to request the world's birthday present to her be world peace. She can be reached at msoennek@nd. edu. Her column appears every other Thursday.
The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
All Viewpoint Stories for Thursday, October 11, 2001
