The Battalion
OPINION
Wednesday, October 3,1990
Opinion Page Editor
Ellen Hobbs
845-3314
Wee
Ignorance
It is rare that a letter in The Battalion
has content that makes me read it twice.
Bruce Hudgins’ letter on homosexuality
was one of these. The first time
through, I was sure that it was a joke. It
was only after carefully looking at the
letter that I realized it was something far
more serious. Take a good look at the
letter. It isn’t the work of an illiterate,
reactionary old codger whose only
source of information is the ministries
of Jimmy Swaggart. It is the work of one
of our own, a senior in one of the better
universities in the state of Texas.
Hudgins has been exposed to the same
educational opportunities as you and I,
been to college lectures, perhaps was
even in some of our classes. Yet, with all
this, this poor guy honestly believes that
what he wrote was a true, factual
account of homosexuality and the AIDS
crisis. Hudgins is soon going to be
graduating.
This scares the hell out of me.
Bigotry and prejudice are often
induced by nothing more than simple
ignorance of a minority group. Blacks,
for example, are often blamed for
poverty and crime. It is in this same
manner that Hudgins blames
homosexuals for the AIDS epidemic. It
is not too hard to see from these
examples that the ignorance of
prejudice often leads to gross
generalizations and misinformation. I
don’t expect Hudgins to like
homosexuals any more than he does
after reading this, but it would be a
crime for him to be ignorant any longer
of one of the most serious epidemics of
the 20th century.
leads to prejudice against homosexuals
Kevin
Robinson
Reader’s Opinion
The biggest gaffe in Hudgins’ logic is
that he assumes that homosexuality is a
decision that one makes based on their
moral and political upbringing. Some
homosexuals that I am acquainted with
tell me that they have known they were
homosexuals since childhood.
The very fact that homosexuality has
always been with us in history, and that
it occurs in other species of the animal
kingdom (where, we assume, chimps
and birds don’t have moral dilemmas) is
enough to show that being a
homosexual is not merely a vice that is
analogous, in Hudgins’ crude thinking,
to starting and stopping smoking. A
homosexual can no more change his
sexual preference than Hudgins himself
can.
T his accepted, intolerance to a
characteristic of a person that they
cannot change is nothing more than
simple prejudice.
The AIDS angle of Hudgins’ letter
was the scariest part. I would have
thought that even a grade school child
would have been able to see the
inaccuracies of Hudgins’ statements.
Most modern theories on the origins of
AIDS state that it was not introduced by
homosexuals. They merely became the
most widespread victims. The scenario
of drug addicts selling themselves to
homosexuals for drug money and thus
spreading the disease to heterosexuals is
almost laughable. What would be the
problem with a homosexual drug user
sharing needles with a heterosexual and
transferring the disease in this way?
This brings up a major problem with
Hudgins’ thinking. He paints a picture
of the gay community as a legion of
immoral, lust-filled perverts who only
want to engage in casual sex and thus
spread the disease of AIDS to “moral,
conservative. God-fearing” folk.
Homosexuals are, in my experience, no
different in their sexual drives than
heterosexuals.
There are, of course, those
homosexuals that willingly engage in
casual sex with complete lack of
inhibition and there are those who
never engage in sexual relations at all.
For those heterosexuals who may feel
morally superior to the homosexual
community, go to the Dixie Chicken or
Sneakers on any given weekend night
and see how many heterosexuals are out
for a one-night romp in the sack. Then
come and tell me how we are just so
much less responsible for the spread of
AIDS and other sexually transmitted
diseases.
One of the more disturbing facets of
Hudgins’ letter was his falling back on
that old crutch, Biblical passages. Taken
literally, the Bible also tells us about
“giants in the Earth,” ghosts, talking
serpents, etc. I may be wrong, but
instead of falling back on minute points
of scripture, isn’t it more important to
follow the basic philosophy of Christ
and love your brother with tolerance, no
matter how different he may be from
yourself? The inclusion of scripture in
arguments against homosexuality is not
only irrelevant, it’s ignoring the basic
teachings of Christ himself.
Getting back to the original article
that started all of this, Irwin Tang is
absolutely correct in saying laws against
homosexual practices should be
abolished. These laws are highly
For heterosexuals who may
feel morally superior to
homosexuals, go out on any
weekend and see how many
heterosexuals are out for a
one-night romp in the sack.
outdated and were introduced by the
“majority” at times when homosexuality
was not well understood and most
citizens still had beliefs like Hudgins.
Any law discriminating against
homosexuals isjust as wrong in
principle as laws requiring blacks to use
separate restrooms. Furthermore, any
law that tries to tell adults what they can
and cannot do during sexual activity in
their own home, is not only wrong but
ridiculous. More than a real legal threat
these laws are merely insults to a people
that have long outgrown the repressed
sexual mores of the Victorian era.
Remember, heterosexual oral sex is still
illegal in many of our Southern states.
I think that the preceding statements
are something just about anyone
intelligent enough to gain admission to
this University probably thought of on
their own after reading Hudgins’letter
The fact that the letter was even writtet
by a senior at a world-class universitj
answers very effectively Hudgins’
statement about the quality of AIDS
education and minority awarenesstha
has been implemented by the Reagan
and Bush administrations. When the
homosexual population is somewhere
around 10 percent and always has beet
it means that Hudgins has now probabi
alienated himself from many of his
fellow students, probably at least one®'
his professors, and possibly even some
of his own friends. Not all homosexuals
“come out.” I try to tell myself that
Hudgins is a fluke here at A&M.thatbt
somehow got past any kind of cultural
awareness by some terrible mistake.
However, these kinds of beliefs can
never be dismissed. As I stated before,
they can’t simply be written off3sthe
work of a redneck hillbilly that is 100
years out of his time. No, I would lay
odds that Hudgins isjust as intelligent
as you and I, and where there’s one heit
there are bound to be more. I wonderes s
the other night how in the world David
Duke thought he would haveenou;
support to win state senator. I thinkht
just received my answer. In a world
where more and more knowledge and
education is available to anyone withth
flick of a TV switch, the door of apublt
library or the pages of an inexpensive
magazine or journal, a letter like
Hudgins’ gives you something to thinl
about, doesn’t it?
Kevin Robinson is a senior English
major.
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Reader’s letter shows ignorance
EDITOR:
This letter is in response to the letter written by Bruce G.
Hudgins, that obviously sadly uneducated person who wrote
in response to Irwin Tang’s letter concerning the rights of ho
mosexuals.
Mr. Hudgins expressed his primitive view that “homosex
uality is a sickness that infects the weak-minded and morally
corrupt,” completely exposing the fact that he is unaware of
any modern thought in this area. If he had read anything on
the subject published by experts within the last 10 to 15 years,
he would have seen that most educated people no longer ac
cept this view. Homosexuality is not considered a disease, ill
ness or pathology of any kind. It is considered a preference —
a natural orientation of the individual.
As a note of interest concerning the “morally corrupt,” I
wish to inform Mr. Hudgins that there is documented fact
that at least five Catholic popes and countless other religious
officials, including nuns, bishops, cardinals, priests and min
isters of all religions, have engaged in explicit homosexual
acts and relationships.
Which brings us to another issue Mr. Hudgins exposed
his horrible ignorance of: homosexuality and Christianity.
First of all, nowhere in the Bible does it say a man shall not
love another man or a woman shall not love another woman.
Second, all versions of the Bible are different in their transla
tions of the original texts over many thousands of years.
Scholars have noted that many Bibles have taken the liberty
of translating neutral words of the Aramaic and Hebrew lan
guages into specific definitions that can only be derived from
the context of the passages. In the passages noted by Mr.
Hudgins, it says a man shall not lie with a man as with a
woman. When a homosexual man lies with another homosex
ual man, he is lying with him because he is a man. It has noth
ing to do with women or the replacement of them.
On the issue of AIDS, Mr. Hudgins, you had better read
up on current statistics. First, at present, it is said that hetero
sexual women are the highest risk group for the disease. Sec
ond, AIDS is not a gay disease in particular. Statistically and
medically speaking, homosexual women are the lowest risk
group for any sexually transmitted disease.
Mr. Hudgins is right: This is the good old conservative
South; however, there are many (gay and straight) who are in
high hopes that Southern thinking will eventually evolve to a
higher point. As Mr. Neal Peart of RUSH so eloquently
wrote:
Quick to judge, quick to anger, slow to understand; Igno
rance and prejudice and fear walk hand in hand.
Kristin J. Frederiksen ’91
Hudgins’ letter refutable, silly
EDITOR:
I write in rebuttal to Bruce Hudgins’ letter on Sept. 28.
Bruce, your first paragraph is pure opinion which cannot be
easily refuted, though if you knew any gay people, you would
realize how silly it is. However, some of your other points are
more readily answered.
First, it is true that heterosexual intercourse is the natural
method of reproduction. But there are many varieties of het
erosexual expression in which people indulge simply because
they are fun, though they are just as “physiologically wrong”
as homosexual sex. Are you going to tell everyone to refrain
from everything but coitus?
Next, the original meanings of the Biblical passages you
cite are actually open to question. Also, quoting the Bible may
end debate where you come from, hut in a large university,
and in the world, there are many people who do not regard
Christian dogma as the final world on morality.
Now about AIDS: worldwide, “statistics will show” that it
is heterosexuals who have spread the disease the most. Not
surprising, since there are more of them. And “knowingly
spreading a disease”? WRONG. It is usually spread by people
who are ignorant of their infection, or just ignorant. But edu
cation is working. Among gay men (more informed, on aver
age, than straights) the spread is slowing to a crawl. The new
“high-risk groups” are teen-agers (who think they are immor
tal) and rural people who think AIDS is an urban problem.
And, by the way, Webster’s defines “bisexual” as: “having sex
ual desire... for members of both sexes”. I assure you that
such people do exist.
As for Barton’s views on the Disabilities Act, I wonder if
he intends to deny benefits to straights with AIDS, since they
also should “know the chances” of their behavior as well. And
how is anyone to tell the difference? Is he going to ref use ben
efits to people who look gay?
The rest of your letter can be reduced to: gays, shut up or
go away. I don’t think it’s going to happen. Humans come in
many varieties, and you’re just going to have to learn to live
with them.
Paul D. Jones’92
few weeks now, but when I read Bruce Hudgins’ comments I
just couldn’t stand it anymore.
How could somebody be so ignorant and intolerant?
Though Bryan-College Station is in the “old conservative
South,” Texas is still a part of the United States of America,
isn’t it?
I’m an international student from Germany and I am em
barrassed to see that the country claiming to be the most dem
ocratic and liberal nation in the world produces citizens like
Mr. Hudgins. What annoyed me most were the demands that
he posted, literally calling for the prosecution of all homosex
uals. I do not care what he thinks or believes, that is none of
my business, but what I do care about are the individual’s
right to personal freedom, which should be found some
where in the U.S. Constitution.
Another thing that caught my eye in Mr. Hudgins’ letter
were the terms “moral” and “God.” First of all, doesn’t God
want you to love your fellow human beings? So if you area
Christian, you should practice it. Second, “moral” is a very
broad term, and has often been abused for the purpose of ar
guing what is right or wrong.
From Mr. Hudgins way of arguing, I can infer that he has
probably never been outside of Texas, or at least has not en
larged his mental horizon beyond the state lines. Hasn’t he
learned anything from history? The German people experi
enced one of the worst cases of discrimination during the
Third Reich, killing people just because of their faith. Of
course it was easy to blame the homosexuals for spreading the
AIDS virus, as well as it was easy to blame the Jews for the
economical and political problems we had in Germany in the
’20s and ’30s.
Think about that, Mr. Hudgins, and look again at your
“Declaration of Independence.” I still wonder how dare you
judge somebody else you don’t even know and, furthermore,
how you call for the punishment of homosexuality.
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Juliane Buschhorn ’94
EDITOR’S NOTE: Bruce G. Hudgins’ letter, “Homosexuals
are sick, immoral,” appeared in The Battalion’s Mail Gallon
Friday, Sept. 28.
Intolerance embarrassing for U.S.
EDITOR:
I’m responding to Bruce G. Hudgins’ letter printed on
Friday concerning the rights of homosexuals. I’ve been read
ing the Opinion Page of The Battalion pretty regularly for a
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