LGBTQ Quick Question!

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Over Thanksgiving Break I visited my relatives in Pennsylvania and I was talking with them about a play I was practicing for one of my theatre classes. When they asked what the play was about, I told them that it was a Gay Fantasia called Angels in America. Immediately they were outraged and said that they were glad they never went to a “Liberal College.” [They are all devout Catholics]. Anyways whenever they saw me studying my lines for the play they would talk amongst themselves about how they don’t understand why we are studying that play of all plays or why our school is paying attention to “30% of the population.”
I started to think about this theory that we were studying [LGBTQ] and wondered what has changed that has brought this topic to be written about in Lois Tyson’s book? I don’t agree with my relatives, nor have I ever really been exposed to such hostility towards the subject, but I just became curious as to what has changed over the last 30 or so years since they were in school/college growing up and now for us? Is liberal colleges really different in terms of our openness than other colleges and their view towards this kind of theory or this topic, or allowing this to be a discussion at such a high level of education?

2 thoughts on “LGBTQ Quick Question!”

  1. Just as a preface, my parents, siblings, and I are the only socially liberal members of our extended family on either side.

    I think a lot of it has to do with our culture as Americans. The Civil Rights movement helped pave the way for LGBT acceptance by preparing the country to accept change in the face of a minority that wants to and deserves to have equal status. Our education system is certainly evolving into a more accepting one, but I don’t see what that has to do with anything. I don’t think everybody who goes to a liberal college is expected to come away being obsessed with homosexual rights and cultures, but at the very least in a modern society we are taught to tolerate and treat with respect. With all due respect to your family and mine, prejudiced Christian conservatives are themselves becoming more and more of a minority, and are having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that the world around them is changing so rapidly.

    Acceptance isn’t a ‘liberal college” value, it is a modern one.

  2. This is very interesting because I come from a similar family background that has the same beliefs as yours. Most of it has to do with the different social beliefs that we have now. The rise of the internet and social web has allowed our generation to be able to connect with different people and get a hold to information. Ideas are able to be spread quicker and the acceptance towards homosexuality is something that has benefited from that. LGBTQ has always been around but just isn’t talked about or taught like the other theories are. In all honesty this is what separates our generation from the rest and has allowed us to become more comfortable with the topic. People now accept this theory and social views on homosexuality because of the spread of information we have access to. People who believe in the same beliefs are able to communicate, share these ideas and spread it around easier. This contributes towards the difference in the acceptance our generation has with these ideas. Liberal colleges have helped introduce different ideas with students, but don’t really contribute to the acceptance our society has for it now. Liberal Colleges are more open because of the belief of a diverse style in education provided from these type of colleges.

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