COLUMN: Private Sexuality, Not Public Acceptance

From Marc Teillon's "Public Pillory," Fall '94 Under the policy, the military can continue to protect our country and homosexuals can become soldiers as long as they keep their sexual orientation to themselves. Since gays and lesbians ostensibly got what they wanted, why then are they still so mad? The reason is quite simple. Lifting the ban was not about gaining the freedoms and rights of every American. Instead, this movement was attempting to normalize its deviant behavior by forcing every single individual to accept it as a natural part of society. Homosexuals believed lifting the ban would be implicit acceptance of their sexual behavior by the government, thus assimilating it in public life. This validation, they hoped, would render homosexuality appropriate in private life as well, enabling lesbians and gays to truly believe in the verity of their lifestyles. The government balked at such a notion and the gays were left to fend for themselves. So what did they do? They went directly to the cultural institutions to obtain the approval the State denied them because these are the places where morality and normalcy are determined. We have witnessed this at the University of Pennsylvania. The campus representatives of the lavender movement are now fervently lobbying our school administration to legitimize their behavior. Like all radical revolutionaries, they are tearing away at the moral fabric of our society by calling the cultural norms old-fashioned, oppressive and discriminatory. What is the current object of their attack? Why, it's the Reserve Officer Training Corps, Penn's very own extension of the military. Judith Rodin has an important decision to make. Does she go against the tradition of our culture and run the military out of West Philly? Or does she reject the unlimited freedoms gays desire and allow the military corps to stay at Penn? This town is only big enough for one or the other and any individual who understands the reasoning behind social norms realizes it is the vociferous soldiers of the pink triangle who should be marched off campus. Society has a responsibility to maintain the intimacy of sexual intercourse. This amorous act should be kept in the bedroom, which is located upstairs and separate from the other rooms where the rest of life's activities take place. When sexuality loses its privacy and becomes a public aim of society, an anarchic state of morality ensues and the worst of human nature reigns supreme. In such a state, the powerful devour the weak and people are viewed as objects for pleasure and slobbered over like prime rib in a dog pound. The high rape and child abuse statistics, the proliferation of Internet porn and the popularity of virtual reality orgies, amount to a convincing argument that our society already resembles such a place. Sexual impulses must also be sanctioned in favor of marriage and the family because these institutions foster fidelity, stability and commitment. In marriage and in families, one must learn to make sacrifices and frequently surrender the "I" to the "we," the individual to the whole. Because of these traits, these institutions are rendered best fit to procreate and raise children, the foundation of our future. Homosexuality, on the other hand, is the negation of these responsibilities. Lesbians and gays have allowed their sexual desires to escalate into such a preoccupation that their sexuality has become their only defining characteristic. When one is completely consumed with sex, whether straight or gay, he is not an activist or even a liberated individual. He is simply a "pervert." The bizarre lifestyle also gives into the moment for sexual gratuity without taking into account the consequences these actions have on the self or the whole. When such light is shed upon homosexuality, it is impossible to view such behavior as "normal" or beneficial to the progress of civilization. Judith Rodin and the rest of the administration should keep the ROTC program, preserve the social norms accepted by the rest of society, and commit themselves to teaching and research, not social experimentation. If the campus militants still feel compelled to seek further approval for their behavior, they might want to try the talk-show circuit and XXX matinees. These are the only places where deviance is the "normal" pursuit and people give a damn about the bedroom behavior of others. Marc Teillon is a junior Finance major from Liverpool, New York. The Public Pillory appears alternate Thursdays.