The Collegian

Issue date: 11/15/07 Section: Opinion

I hopped down the stairs, surprisingly cheerful for being on my way to a French test, when I overheard the beginnings of it. Four behemoth guys loomed ahead, shouting out a conversation that caught my attention. An avid people-watcher, I began eavesdropping.

"Like, how do gay people still happen? What about, like, survival of the fittest?"

"Yeah, like, they can't even have kids."

"Man, you'd think they'd, like, die out by now."

"Dude."

I pride myself in being level-headed. A good friend calls me stoic. Basically, I don't usually get my undies in a bundle over anything. But, despite my resolution against being resentful, I was offended, for two reasons.

Primarily, because these guys were actually conferring about the extinction of homosexuals. Secondly, because they'd never considered that one would be walking behind them at Hillsdale College.

In fact, when someone at Hillsdale learns about my orientation, the first question out of their mouth is, "Well, why did you come here?"

I normally roll my eyes and provide a futile answer involving parents and dollar bills. The long answer though, is I came here for the same reasons as most; I was attracted by the liberal arts and I wanted to learn to think. I knew I'd be considered a novelty for existing among kids who'd grown up believing gays are either creepy priests or drag queens.

I shrugged, knowing that being at Hillsdale would be different.

Different, however, isn't something Hillsdale readily appreciates. Inside the Hillsdale bubble, protected from the outside world, we're encouraged to adapt an "us and them" mentality. We're the educated, the privileged, and the honorable. Despite our synonymous religious values, we quibble over pretend distinctions. We overvalue community, believing unity hinges on conformity, and we strive for juvenile unity in groups.

Either you share the Hillsdale identity, and become a part of the "us," or you're one of "them," a townie, liberal, or fool.

There's a difference, though, between being like-minded and being the same. To be like-minded is to share purpose, opinion or taste, while sameness implies invariability, a shared identity that is not complementary but identical. As important as community may be, uniformity is dangerous.

When the number of multicultural students can be counted on one's hands, when the only religious differences are found between Christian denominations, and when students honestly contemplate the extinction of homosexuals, we're in danger.

We're in danger of reinforcing uniformity, of prostituting our chance at a marketplace of ideas, and of missing out on cultures, opinions, and people that are different from "us."

Some have argued with me, saying that Hillsdale's sameness is its strength. But unity does not hinge on uniformity. By strengthening our opinions with opposition, we deepen our arguments with a broader knowledge of the world.

Diversity; call it a modern conception, but it's a useful one. Let's be bound in our purpose, our pursuit of knowledge and usage of reason, accepting differences as a chance to better and broaden ourselves, and let our ideas battle it out in the ring. May the best (gay) man win.

Hillsdale College Collegian, 2007

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