I have faced little discrimination in my life. I've never felt less of a person because of my sex, race, ethnicity and rarely of my age. I've got it pretty easy - I'm not poor; I'm white and educated. I don't have a lot to be afraid of. I'm one of the lucky ones.
The same cannot be said for a lot of other people on campus. The international population has dropped since the Patriot Act was passed. People have been stuck in airports or other countries because of their nationality. Hateful graffiti covered the door of our local mosque, denouncing a group's religion.
And now another group is facing similar discrimination. The gay community has been fighting for years for equality: the right to marry, the right to adopt, the right to walk around on campus and be comfortable holding the hand of a significant other without being the object of ridicule. All of these rights have been denied to these people because they fell for a person of the same sex.
Within the past year, while the gay community has made significant strides in gaining equality, it also has seen an unusually large number of discriminatory acts toward it. This week's cover story, "A look at tolerance" by Jaime Schneider, delves into these actions and discusses possible solutions with students.
Discrimination in this country has always confused me: While Americans pride themselves on diversity and acceptance, it seems as if each culture goes through an almost ritualistic period of discrimination. Asian-Americans were thrown in concentration camps after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, African-Americans fought for their civil rights in the '60s, the Irish were denied jobs in the early 1900s, women fought for equal work rights and the list goes on and on. What baffles me is that many of these people and their ancestors moved to this country to escape persecution, only to find it in what is supposed to be the most free country in the world.
It seems as though it's the gay community now that is going through this twisted American ritual. After years of being persecuted, taunted and denied rights, gays will eventually (hopefully) be seen as normal, equal people. Maybe I'm just a person who believes in happy endings, but history does have a way of repeating itself. The end to this mess must come soon, though. America is running out of groups to stereotype, to discriminate against and to hate. And maybe ASU can become a milestone in the fight against gay discrimination, and open its eyes to this ever-present, deserving and equal culture on campus.
Reach the editor at emily.murphy@asu.edu.
