Amidst recent controversy in the Orthodox community over the question of homosexuality, as reflected upon by New Voices’ Simi Lampert, and huge gains made by the passage of bills legalizing same sex marriage in the New Jersey legislature, Washington State, and Maryland, not to mention the repeal of Proposition 8 in California, our society is being polarized over this issue, each side being drawn further and further down its own line of reasoning. Upon reading of the attack at Bridgewater State I was deeply saddened, most because the past few weeks have instilled in me a sense that our society is progressing on this issue. Setting aside whether or not you believe in homosexual marriage, it saddens me to know that we live in a society that controversy over whether or not these individuals can wed can inspire such rage and division.
Destinie Mogg-Barkalow is a junior. She is a journalist. She is a thousand other adjectives other than the one her alleged attackers chose to define her as, yet that facet of her personality caused them to assault her in a parking lot, for the crime of being openly gay and speaking her mind. She published an editorial in her school newspaper proclaiming her stance against Proposition 8, just as she was entitled to under her rights to freedom of speech and the press. In return, she was assaulted. Regardless of your positon on the issue, there are certain human rights at play here. She has every right to publish her ideas just as anyone else has every right to disagree with them. And disagreement is fine. However, when hate crimes are inspired by mere editorials, it becomes clear that the picture we are looking at is that of a polar society, with one side moving towards acceptance of homosexual culture, and one side moving away from it. It is up to the Jewish community, as well as the American people at large, to decide which perspective they’d like to embody.
