We shouldn't have to ask
Letter to the Editor
On Tuesday, I was speaking with a fellow student about OUTreachND, the unofficial gay, lesbian, bisexual and questioning student group of which I am treasurer and proud member.
He said to me, "I support your cause, but your community upsets me because they ask for so much. `We want, we want, we want,' is all I hear." In my answer I feel I have something to say to Notre Dame at large.
Let me explain to all of you who ask this same question. You worked hard in high school in order to get here, right? So did I. I was involved in just as many clubs, activities and sports. I did just as much for my church. I had just as many community service hours. My grades were just as commendable and my test scores just as high. I earned my place here just like you.
And yes, I am bisexual.
Now, almost two years into Notre Dame, I have experienced what many ethnic minorities here at Notre Dame have: the loneliness, alienation and the all too frequent comments, some ignorant and some intentionally cruel. As a member of the gay, lesbian and bisexual community though, I experience something other minorities do not: the constant and unfailing efforts of the administration to tell me I am a sinner, that I am "objectively disordered," I am unworthy and unwanted and that I deserve no legal protection from harassment or violence. These sentiments are whispered in the hallways and shouted in the Viewpoint pages.
I knew before coming here that Notre Dame was a Catholic university. And somehow I thought that meant love and tolerance. To me, those values, having been spoken by Christ, stand above doctrine written by any human — even a pope.
Jesus, quoting Isaiah, said, "This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrine human precepts," (Mark 7:6-7).
To me the question is not, "Why do I ask for so much?" but rather, "Why should I have to ask at all?"
Michaela C. Murray-Nolan
Sophomore
Executive Board Member and Treasurer, OUTreach ND
Member, Standing Committee on Gay and Lesbian Student Needs
Breen-Phillips Hall
March 8, 2000
All Viewpoint Stories for Friday, March 10, 2000
