Haters gonna hate, but let’s not silence their opinions
A hater wrote an anti-LGBTQA letter to the editor that was published on April 11. It said, “…homosexual minds in heterosexual bodies are sure signs of mind/body mismatches, and sure signs of disorders.” This letter continued with equally homophobic and barbaric rhetoric.
But wait, there’s more. The author of the letter, Wayne Lela, has absolutely no connection to Utah State University, even though we are a student-produced paper. And it turns out that Wayne Lela is the founder of the Heterosexual Organization for a Moral Environment, which is an anti-gay hate group. (I wasn’t kidding about the “hater” part.) Regardless, the editorial board allowed his voice to seep through the vetting process.
The self-proclaimed ally in me revolted against the damaging letter. But as a reporter, I was morally conflicted. Many people don’t realize The Utah Statesman’s policy allows all opinions to be published, regardless if they are a student-based or not; that’s the way it should be.
Everyone deserves a voice, regardless of how much I disagree with those perspectives. That’s why I am a reporter. I don’t want to be another raging, uninformed extremist who demonizes and represses “the others.”
Censoring “the others” gets us absolutely nowhere as a society. Far too often we shut down opinions that we don’t agree with as hateful, communist, socialist, fascist, etc. before we really hear their opinions. We wouldn’t be where we are today with the legality of gay marriage if we weren’t able to hear the voices of the once, much more marginalized, pro-LGBTQA community.
Not allowing Wayne Lela’s letter to be published in the paper based solely on my own political views is a double-standard that I’m not willing to live with. I frown on historic newspapers who once suppressed those voices. I am also appalled the FCC used to fine TV stations for showing interracial couples on TV. That is a terrible silencing of freedom of speech. I would never want to find myself a muzzling gatekeeper.
Morgan Pratt is a journalism major who prides herself on reporting about diversity. Regardless of what I said here, I hope I can still maintain a relationship with many of my pro-LGBTQA friends.
Everyone does NOT deserve a voice. I’m so sick of the statesmans trying to use freedom of speech as an excuse to publish hate. Freedom of speech does not in any way say that people deserve to be heard, no matter how disgusting their words are. It protects you from the government stopping your voice.
Some voices have no place in society. Bigotry has no place, ever. This is not some harmless fringe wanting to be heard. This is the leader of a hate group spreading his hate with the assistance of the statesman.
Stop using freedom of speech as an excuse to air the obvious hateful bigotry some of your staff clearly have.
The LGBT community and their allies already know damn well what bigots sound like. We hear them every day all around us, especially here in Utah where religion is used as the perfect excuse to harm others. We watch helplessly as our brothers and sisters lose their lives due to the haters you apparently have no problem enabling.
Because end of the day when you let people like this have the voice of our newspaper you are letting every person who feels the same know they’re right to feel this way. You are washing your hands in the blood of the LGBT people who are harassed, attacked, and murdered; as well as those who can’t fight anymore and take their own lives; because of people like him, and people like you who think your enabling is ok.
We don’t let bad people use our microphones. Because the world sucks bad enough for the marginalized without it. Because anyone with integrity will not stand by while hateful lies are spewed.
So if a member from the KKK writes in and spreads words of hate against African Americans are you going to publish that too? Or is that no longer socially acceptable, but it still is to hate on LGBTQ people so publishing that crap was okay?