'shOUT Speaker First of Two on Gay Rights
The Wabash College website today featured a story about two gay speakers that are coming to Wabash this week. One, Jon Hoadley, the Executive Director of National Stonewall Democrats (a group which describes itself as a “a grassroots network connecting LGBT Democratic activists”.) was sponsored by Wabash’s gay-straight alliance, ’shOUT. The other, conservative radio show host Tammy Bruce, is sponsored by the Wabash Conservative Union.
Mr. Hoadley spent a significant portion of his lecture focusing on he believed conservative ideology wasn’t the best solution for Americans. As Greg Slisz explains in his article:
While explaining the close relationship between partisanship and ideology, Hoadley promoted a liberal ideology as the philosophy of an ever-evolving America. He presented a stark contrast, as he stated that conservative ideology was “based on myth,” whereas liberal ideology was “based on contracts between humans and human behavior.
“Idealized policies are not always in the best interest of what humans do, and how we as a social creature behave.”
He even cited a specific example of previous conservative sex education that consisted only of abstinence. That, he said, led to increases in STDs and teenage pregnancy. “We had this goal of what we wanted to achieve in our policy [of sex education], but it wasn’t made for people’s behavior,” said Hoadley. “And a lot of teenagers, well, they apparently had a lot of behavior.”
Hoadley emphasized that the liberal framework was necessary because it was the only one that would work to solve social problems and improve people’s lives, especially in terms of civil rights.
Mr. Hoadley’s view of the world will not go long without a rebuttal, however, as Tammy Bruce will be on campus tomorrow evening to explain how conservative beliefs are actually empowering to minorities of all stripes. Talk about a difference of opinion! I have no doubt that these lectures will spark a considerable amount of discussion on campus.
As for Mr. Hoadley, I’ll let one of WCU’s own take it away:
In the spirit of open discussion, several members of the Wabash Conservative Union attended Hoadley’s speech.
Junior Adam Brasich, a member of the [Wabash] Conservative Union, found Hoadley’s talk informative, even if he didn’t agree with all of it. “I was very impressed with his talk. He was obviously a Democrat and he was partisan, but he didn’t spend all this time bashing Republicans talking about how we’re bigots or things like that,” Brasich said. “He talked a lot about philosophy and how he thought his philosophy was the best option. I still disagree with him, but I respect his position more.”
Don’t forget: Tammy Bruce tomorrow night at 8 p.m. in Baxter Hall 101.
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