End the Queer Silencing at Gordon

Opinion by Alec Hansen '21, Contributor

Institutions of higher education in the United States have a rich tradition of promoting intellectual freedom. Students and faculty alike engage in stimulating dialogue in the halls of learning. Increasingly though, campuses have become the epicenter of threats to free speech; liberal groupthink on specific issues prevents intellectual honesty. Gordon, in many ways, has been able to defy this trend by maintaining an ideologically diverse collection of faculty and students. And on most topics, robust conversations are sustained: in the classroom, in the dining hall, and in student clubs.

However, on the issue of gay identity and the theology of homosexuality, Gordon is no beacon of free thought. The school’s policies serve to silence students who disagree and to ensure that the conversation stays within the bounds of traditional, orthodox beliefs.

In the fall semester of 2017, GCSA initiated a campus conversation on the subject; one of the results was a town hall forum with Dr. Nick Rowe, the Dean of Student Engagement. During this time of questions and answers, Dr. Rowe sought to clarify and articulate the school’s policy on the subject.

The College’s position is this: if a speaker advocates that it is Biblically acceptable for two people of the same sex to marry, there must be another person at the same event who advocates that marriage is between one man and one woman. Furthermore, a club for students who identify as LGBTQ+ is not permitted on campus. Allowing such an organization would supposedly run contrary to Gordon’s principles.

Silencing students and maneuvering speaker policies clearly hurts the cause of academic and intellectual freedom. For many Gordon students and faculty, the College is precious to them because of its generous approach to theology, one which recognizes widely divergent ideas and seeks to merge them into dialogue under the cross of Christ.

Undoubtedly, as a distinctly Christian institution rooted in the evangelical tradition, Gordon must place certain limits on both clubs and speakers. It is acceptable for Gordon to deny the chartering of a Muslim club or prevent a Wiccan speaker. On a matter so personal to students and faculty though, such denial runs antithetical to the oft-heralded and trusting spirit of Christian community.

In his November 6, 2017 chapel address, President D. Michael Lindsay shared his personal journey after signing the 2014 letter to the Obama administration requesting religious exemption to discrimination policies regarding those who identify as LGBTQ+. The fallout produced outrage on the North Shore and led to the severing of many strategic communal partnerships. As he spoke on the issue of homosexuality during that Chapel the President said, “I don’t even want to engage on this particular issue.” 

As the leader of a prominent institution though, President Lindsay has no choice but to engage on this issue. To deny a club its legitimacy and mandate that both sides are represented only serves to suppress the conversation.

On Monday, Nov 16, the President of the Massachusetts Family Institute Andrew Beckwith came to Gordon and spoke to a gathering of students. He advocated for traditional family values and represented the conservative political efforts of his organization. He also lamented the recent ban on conversion therapy in the Commonwealth. It is outrageous that Gordon is willing to police the theological position of a growing segment of the student body and yet allows the unbridled articulation of such scientifically disproven practices.

Concerns of the LGBTQ+ community are not just political or theological; they are not simply an ‘issue’, as President Lindsay has called it before. Such concerns are the product of deeply personal experiences and an evangelical church culture that prefers to disengage rather than discuss. It is imperative that the College reconsider its policy on this matter. Gordon students who are not heterosexual are wrestling with their identity right now. More followers of Jesus are turned away by leadership every semester that passes as Gordon attempts to sweep this under the rug; all in a blithe effort to maintain the status quo.

I urge the leadership of this institution to consider the painful reality of students who are LGBTQ+. The past weeks have revealed the racism that marginalizes students of color on this campus. The administration has expressed a deep desire to respond to this problem and reshape the institution to look more like the Kingdom of God. Does this kingdom minded approach extend to conversations on sexuality and gender?

Loving your neighbor means allowing the formal gathering and funding of a student organization for LGBTQ+ students. Loving your neighbor means hearing them out and fostering an environment of free speech where affirming individuals may speak. Loving your neighbor means that you engage your siblings in Christ who have been wounded by a church that silences. Gordon College can and must do better. I hope and pray they will.