See, Hear and Do the Right Thing
A Gonzaga Bulletin Article by John Griffith
(Date Unknown)

A relentless pounding on the door wakes the student. Swinging the door open, he is confronted by a man wearing a mask and wielding a big wooden bat.

Another student waits in line to be served food. It's been a long day. She's been looking forward to this meal. Food flies from across the room. It finds its mark - her face. Still reeling from the first barrage, she is now attacked with epithets. People laugh.

Two men are ready to enter a room just as another student exits. They pause. Loudly, one proclaims to the other, "Don't go in there. You don't want to be where 'they' have been."

A man is told that "his kind are ruining the country." He is threatened with violence.

Someone shouts death threats from a moving vehicle - more laughter.

The list goes on and on. Where and when is this taking place? In the South during the fifties? Yep. In Germany during the thirties? Yep. In the West, when settlers invaded native lands? Yep.

But, guess what? It's taking place right now, right here at Gonzaga University, too. We are watching it happen and not seeing, We are listening to it happen and not hearing.

There are many, many more accounts. But a common thread runs through all of them. The assailants are or were Gonzaga students. The victims are or were Gonzaga students, Gonzaga students who are gay, lesbian or bisexual.

Some of the assailants might justify their violence by a misunderstanding (deliberate or otherwise) of Catholic teaching. They might say, "Being a homosexual (substitute your own degrading name here) is a sin." Let me set the record "straight" - It isn't. One's orientation is not a sin.

The Church views as sinful all sexual acts outside of marriage. Homosexual sex outside of marriage is the same sin as heterosexual sex outside of marriage.

In my opinion, heterosexual sex outside of marriage might be considered a "bigger" sin than homosexual sex outside of marriage. At least heterosexual couples have the option to marry. Their homosexual counterparts don't have this option.

While we are talking about sin (something some people say we don't talk enough about), let's get into Church teaching. Did you know that there is Church teaching that addresses how we straight people are supposed to treat our gay, lesbian and bisexual brothers and sisters? I quote from the Catholic Catechism.

They (homosexual people) must be accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided.

Church teaching has much to say about hate-filled acts in general. In short, if you are persecuting, harassing, verbally or physically injuring another you are guilty of GRAVE sin.

Gonzaga is a Catholic Institution. Harassing anyone for any reason - color, gender, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, race, etc. is, according to Catholic teaching, very, very wrong.

Perhaps, you're Catholic and you have never heard of these teachings. You should care. Perhaps, you're not Catholic. You may or may not care about these teachings. You should.

Respect, compassion and sensitivity for our gay, lesbian and bisexual brothers and sisters is as much a part of our university as the Administration Building, Jesuit House, Spike the Bulldog, Bing, or "the wall." This teaching must be inherent in our day to day lives. It is a manifestation of Christ Jesus on our campus.

I would invite those of you who are doing the harassing to stop. If you want to stop, but can't, let's talk.

If you are harassing and plan on continuing, regardless of the teaching our university accepts, embraces and strives to make manifest, I ask you to leave.

For the rest of us: We need to start looking and seeing. We need to start listening and hearing. Then we need to start doing. We need to comfort the harassed and confront the harassers. We need to do the right thing. That's all Jesus asks of us.

John Griffith is an assistant director of Campus Ministry and the director of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Support Group at Gonzaga University.

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