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Homosexual supporters label disagreement as attack on people because it makes them feel bad BY LifeSiteNews.com by Hilary White SPOKANE, May 3, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – At Jesuit run Gonzaga University, in Spokane Washington, a campaign has been launched by some faculty to legitimize homosexual behaviour and refute Catholic teaching on homosexuality. The group, calling itself, “GU Affirms Equality,” has circulated a letter and launched a website and calls Catholic teaching hypocritical. They claim that there is a “tension” between Church teaching that on the one hand supports the dignity of the human person, and on the other, condemns homosexual acts as sinful and the condition as an “objective moral disorder.” The letter claims, “There are ambiguities and tensions within official (Church) teachings. In particular, we see a deep tension between Catholic social teaching’s opposition to every form of discrimination and bias and official Catholic teachings on homosexuality that allow or encourage some discrimination.” “Catholics are resolving (the contradiction),” the group claims, “by siding with Catholic social teaching and its unconditional support for the dignity and rights of every person and by questioning a Catholic sexual ethic that restricts the civil, political, cultural and ecclesial rights of LGBT persons.” The group, led by philosophy professor Mark Alfino, was formed in response to an event last October when the campus Republicans brought Dr. John Diggs to campus to give a talk on the medical dangers of homosexual acts. Dr. Raymond Reyes, associate vice president for diversity told the campus newspaper, The Bulletin, that the talk might be used to create anti-gay sentiment. The administration asked the Republicans to broaden the topic and scope of the talk so as not to focus on homosexuality but the harmful effects of human sexuality pertaining to anal penetrative sex. The Republicans refused and the lecture, titled, “The Medical Effects of Homo-Sex” played to a packed auditorium. Since then, GU Affirms Equality was formed and Alfino told the Bulletin that their first “action” would be ready by January of this year. Dr. Alfino was straightforward in his opposition to Catholic teaching on sexual morality. He told LifeSiteNews.com, that while his group, which has wide support from Gonzaga faculty, is attempting to find a common view with the opposed group, he and other faculty members wanted them to “unequivocally to assert their commitment” to the dignity of the human person. Alfino said that, “homosexual acts are not wrong things,” and claims that the consensus of researchers on homosexuality would agree. “The Church is very much mistaken about this aspect of its teaching on sexuality,” he said. “I know I’ve got the consensus of the best minds on this.” Alfino said the letter against Catholic teaching on sexual morality has garnered about three hundred signatures. A second letter, he said, makes a set of demands to the university’s administration which he intends to present next week. In response to Alfino’s group, a second group of faculty, led by Dr. David Calhoun, also of the philosophy department, responds that there is a basic logical error in claiming a contradiction in Catholic teaching on homosexuality. Dr. Calhoun’s letter says it is “a basic mistake of logical, ethical, and theological reasoning to think that this fundamental commitment by the Church to human value would imply that the Church, Church-related institutions, or Christian persons should or must approve of all actions engaged in or character qualities manifested by human persons.” The response letter, which is as yet only available online at the weblog of a sympathetic Gonzaga undergraduate, says, “While Gonzaga University should conduct itself with generosity and charity in its dealings with all persons, it should also recognize its moral obligation to discourage behaviour contrary to Christian teaching,” the letter reads. The response letter’s growing list of signatories is calling on the university to “maintain its fidelity to traditional Catholic and Christian teaching regarding homosexual behaviour, and to reflect that fidelity in its actions and policies.” LifeSiteNews.com spoke with Dr. Brian Clayton, a professor of Philosophy and a signatory to the letter in support of Catholic teaching, who said there seems to be a basic disconnect between the claims of tolerance and the desire to paint all opposition to their position as “homophobia” or “bigotry.” “It never occurs to them there is a contradiction,” he said. Clayton said the reaction reminds him of the Catholic politicians who, “see no contradiction between supporting the abortion of millions of children on one hand and supporting the children of the poor on the other.” The GU Affirms Equality campaign comes close to accusing the Catholic Church of inciting aggression against homosexual persons. It says the Vatican document identifying homosexuality as an “objective moral disorder,”“may contribute to a sense that discrimination against homosexuals is not always wrong.” Clayton told LifeSiteNews.com that the response letter was an attempt to place the issue into the light of reason and logic and move away from emotional responses. The reaction of homosexual supporters, he said, seems to be that anyone who disagrees is ipso facto a bigot. “It’s not a matter of argument but of passion,” he stated “It becomes clear in the kind of objections made (to opposition). Any question or attempt to challenge the dominant view is taken as an attack on people because it makes them feel bad.” “What we are trying to do is make an attempt to state the truth and make a few simple logical distinctions,” said Clayton. Dr. Calhoun told LifeSiteNews.com that he has yet to meet with the administration but he intends to bring the issue up at a meeting with Fr. Robert Spitzer SJ., the university’s president, early next week. Dr. Calhoun said his letter’s signatories only want the university to “recognize and value traditional catholic teaching.” He said, “We’ve received indications of support from about 100 students, alumni faculty and staff.” Calhoun said there have been some negative responses as well. “There’s been a discussion on a faculty listserv in which we have been called narrow minded and bigoted. One suggested that there was a hint (in the letter) of violence against homosexuals. One implied that the letter is in keeping with a desire to segregate homosexuals, and made a reference to the Holocaust.”

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