Homophobic violence tarnishes Rice community

At a usual crowded Rice party, I saw a student get punched because he was gay.

This should not happen. After all, just like most other universities, Rice’s admissions office has helped to create a diverse student body that consists of people of all races, genders and sexual orientations coming from all over the United States and other parts of the world.

Rice has also worked hard to promote diversity on campus in other ways. We are home to the Boniuk Center of Religious Tolerance, and we have organizations on campus such as ADVANCE, and the Office of Multicultural Affairs. Orientation Week included many diversity speeches and forums to promote the importance acceptance of other people. Rice’s distinguished faculty also reflects a wide diversity not only of backgrounds but in viewpoints and ideas. But even after all the hard work by the university, I feel that there are still a large number of students who are ignorant regarding tolerance of their fellow students.

Homophobia seems to display itself in worse ways than towards other races or genders. Homophobia has reached ridiculous levels — even hints of sexual ambivalence can result in hysteria and animosity. It is especially disappointing to see this ignorance take place in the form of violence.

Homophobia is not a worldwide phenomena: In most parts of East Asia, even though homosexual couples are not a common sight, they are generally not treated much more differently than other couples. And in many parts of Europe, homosexuality seems to be much more accepted than in the United States. However, at Rice I have personally seen and heard of incidents where extreme homophobia resulted in violence. It is not only shocking to see such brutality, it is also disappointing to know that my fellow students apparently don’t know any better.

In addition to the first act of violence, I was witness to an incident at a Jones College public party, where someone who was gay was deliberately pushed and jeered while innocently walking. The students who incited the incident already displayed a large level of ignorance. But it is even more dismaying to see that this type of behavior is permitted or even encouraged — these incidents were witnessed by the people present at the time but were merely ignored or overlooked.

You can keep whatever views you have concerning homosexuality. But when it comes to manifesting those views in ways that directly inflict harm on others, no one should stand idly by and watch it happen — especially not in such a close-knit community. Regardless of whether or not one agrees with someone else’s sexual orientation, violence among students should never be accepted.

Students at Rice should be expected to be more educated and open-minded than this behavior suggests. I do realize that for many, homosexuality is a breach of the moral code of conduct. I’m not going to contest this view, because I feel that much more complex matters lie behind the subject. But ultimately, differences between individuals are inevitable, and violence should never be condoned as an intolerant reaction to these differences, no matter one’s moral beliefs. Those with different sexual orientations still need to be treated with respect. There should be no distinction between verbally harassing and physically mistreating those of different race, gender, religion or sexual orientation.

Coming to terms with the fact that there are too many types of people in this world for intolerance to take place is crucial in a community like Rice and in the world at large. We would have far fewer problems if more of us were able to learn how to understand that not everyone is just like we are.

Here at Rice, it is our responsibility to learn this before graduating. After all, we will soon be entering the real world, where there is an even wider variety of people. And it would be extremely pathetic if some could not handle working with people that did not fit their own idea of the perfect behavioral model of the human being.

Joyce Yao is a Will Rice College freshman.

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