Letters to the Editor: Sex on Parade

By Chris Berleth and Rob Schatz

Dear Editor,

As a 19 year old conservative Christian, the first thing I can tell you is that I am not surprised by our institution’s policies to support and openly accept gay and lesbian issues and to be “tolerant” and accepting of “diversity”. What I am surprised at is our students’ responses, such as Kevin Demko’s. Instead of suggesting that we refrain from parading sex around at all, Kevin suggests that we should also include lewd dancers as a sort of balance to the mix.

I challenge the idea that any sort of balance can be made here, and further suggest that we as students hold in higher regard the entity of sex in general. The “sexual revolution” seems to be an ever-growing and acceptable topic, and its very foundation is that we all should be free to have sex with “whomever, wherever, whenever”. If you do any studies about the psychological effects of pre-marital sex on marriage relationships, you might just find that satisfaction in a marriage is either hard to come by, hard to enjoy, or carries an immense amount of baggage.

Please reconsider your decisions about the purposes and proper engagements of sex. Perhaps providing a culture at school where sex is not just “something to do” starts with understanding that no matter who is parading it around, premarital sex is simply unpleasing in the long term and delicate in the short term.
Besides, telling a girl you’re actually going to wait to have sex might get you some respect, if not garner a more emotionally intimate and “safe” feeling.

Thank you for your time,
Chris Berleth,
Sophomore, Gettysburg College

Dear Kevin,
I noticed that you mentioned attending the FYE event which showed the video about college life of homosexuals. There was a discussion afterwards which ended on an extremely controversial note.

I would like to offer my deepest apologies for the comments made by our president. His remarks about outing people were rude and uncalled for. I applaud those that spoke up because I was at a loss for words. I was extremely upset and embarrassed, for both Allies and the people he victimized in the audience.

I cannot stress this enough, we do NOT want students to feel pressured to come out. Our goal is to make students feel safe and promote respect among the student body.

The FYE program was not the impression that we wished you to leave with. Please don’t let one person’s actions influence your attitude towards Allies as a whole. Again, we offer our most sincere apologies.

As for the drag show, this is my first year in Allies. I had no idea what to expect. I left the event with mixed feelings, especially after FYE. I am very concerned about our image at this point. The drag show was well-received by some, but not by all, unlike Carson Kressley’s appearance. Please pass along my compliments to Paul for his story.

Thank you,
Rob Schatz
Allies Secretary
Class of 2007

EDITOR’S RESPONSE:
We certainly appreciate your comments, Chris. And thank you for taking the time to write in. I would like to clarify, however, that Mr. Demko wrote his piece as a satire, merely to juxtapose the ridiculousness of both ideas in a confined space. I am sure that Kevin shares many of your values and would feel much the same way as you do. Just be aware that the piece was written to expose the one-sidedness of the school, but more importantly, to highlight the inappropriate nature of any school sponsorship of programs which place sex on parade.

Lauren Racine
Editor In Chief