In the recent storm of online comments, quad conversations and administrative meetings, the essence of the debate over Will Thomason’s removal from Psalm 100 is at risk of being lost.
This debate, from our perspective, is not about whether Christianity is an affront to basic rights. Having worked with many faith-based organizations, the Campus Y recognizes the multiplicity of interpretations within various faiths. One student organization could never speak for all Christians.
Nor is the debate about whether homosexuality is a choice. As an executive board, we believe that both those who believe it is innate and those who believe it is a choice are obligated to protect the rights of those in the LGBTIQ community.
For us, this incident is not about the well-worn debates that leave people divided along all-too-familiar ideological lines. Those debates often avoid the broader questions: what happens when beliefs translate into actions? Who is marginalized in that process? Can our campus provide a safer space for the expression of all identities?
This incident should be about a student struggling with a sexual identity, a religious identity or even both.
Perhaps that person is a first-year, trying to decide whether this community will accept their sexual and gender identity. UNC has pockets that are more accepting and welcoming to LGBTIQ students than many of our own high schools. But what kind of campus has a UNC freshman experienced in the past week?
This incident can also be about a religious student. Too often we lose sight of those whose identities are shaped by faith, and who feel marginalized in their own right within this campus community. We find it troubling that this incident may make it even harder for students who are opposed to the actions of Psalm 100 to identify as Christian.
This incident can also be about a student who identifies as Christian and as part of the LGBTIQ community. All of us claim – as Will does – more than one identity. No one is only Christian, or only LGBTIQ – or for that matter only Muslim, or conservative, vegan or any other identity. We must constantly work to ensure that individuals do not have to choose between these identities, to place one against the other in the dialogue that our campus creates.
We hold a deep respect for the members of Psalm 100 – a respect reinforced by Will’s continued insistence in maintaining them as valuable friends and important members of our campus community. But we must vigilantly evaluate their action, as we would the action of any group, based on the exclusions it creates, the prejudices it reinforces and the messages it sends to marginalized communities.
