This article talks about the burning of a Gay Pride flag at Albion College. A student by the name of Salaina Catalano apologized for taking apart of the burning of the flag on October 18th. Catalano turned herself in to Campus Safety where she signed a written statement about the incident. College President Donna Randall responded to the situation by issuing a statement that said, “The college has taken the situation very seriously and followed its established policies and procedures in investigating the situation and determining what should be done. As of November 10th none of the students had been issued any punishments. Randall went on to say “Privacy laws prohibit me from providing information about the actions taken against those individuals, I want to make it very clear that the college condemns harassment of any member of our college and I feel confident that those involved will not participate in such acts in the future.” There has been some backlash for the lack of response from the college, including an online petition which encourages people to refrain from donating to the college.
I have mixed feeling about this. I truly believe in gay rights. But I also believe in freedom of speech. However, burning a Gay Pride flag can be seen as harassment and something used to intimidate a group of people. It can make homosexuals feel not welcome. I think burning a Gay Pride flag is a disgusting act and is juvenile. Then again, burning it may be protected under the first amendment, just as the book says, “If there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment , it is that the government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable. We have not recognized an exception to this principle even where our flag has been involved” (310). The United States flag represents a country while the Gay Pride flag represents a smaller group of people who have been oppressed. In the end, I think the actions of the college students were disrespectful and radical.
http://www.mlive.com/news/jackson/index.ssf/2010/11/albion_college_releases_statem.html
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This respoonse makes me think about the Bill Clinton apologia speech and how people justify how they feel for a cause. Just because he did not have sex with Monica Lewinski does not mean he did not have sexual contact with her. Similar to this article, jusrt because you do not believe in gay rights does not mean that you haveto express your actions in a way that is going to make people react in a negative way. Bill Clinton was wrong and should not have lied because it got him into deeper trouble. The girl should not have taken her incident to the extreme of having to burn a flag. Bottom line is depending on the way you feel should not give you free reign to abuse your authority.
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