For background on this incident, see the earlier post, Queer Bashing in the Built Environment. The students of the class have anonymously weighed in with their reactions, which I will post here as they come in:
One fact shared by both the victim and Adam Smith’s testimonies was that the
altercation between them was largely instigated by the victim’s suggestion that
Smith was gay himself. It was this comment about Smith’s pink shirt that turned
his verbal instigating of the gay student into a full out physical assault. This fact
is extremely indicative of the heterosexual expectations put on both fraternity
brothers and their party guests. As a freshman girl walking into a frat party, it is
made pretty clear to you shouldn’t be there trying to make friends or find future
study buddies among the frat brothers. You are allowed to accept drinks and/or
dance with your girl friends to have a good time, but if you are talking or dancing
with a brother for more than fifteen minutes then it is pretty much considered
your fault for being a tease if you aren’t going to hook up with them. Younger male
guests are also let in for the purpose of promoting their fraternity. So, if the boys
at frat parties are there to get girls, and the girls are there to fulfill the role of the direct object in that sentence, then where does that leave homosexual males in a space and an event designed to facilitate the objectification of heterosexual females? The article in the Emory Wheel claims that there is a large openly gay population in Emory fraternities. If this is true, then they all must have been out of town for every single frat party I have been to. I am absolutely appalled at the violence, hate, intolerance and bigotry displayed this weekend at the university that I have thus been able to proudly call myself a part of. However, I am hardly surprised that a frat brother was not especially welcoming toward an openly gay male at one of his parties, and I am definitely not surprised that the extremely offensive slur “faggot” was thrown around in the spat. Even if gay intolerance doesn’t often result in physical violence, that doesn’t mean that gay intolerance doesn’t exist behind the scenes, especially in Greek life.
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A recent incident took place at a Sigma Nu fraternity party at Emory University, in which an Emory alumnus dragged out a student by the neck after he revealed that he is gay. This brings into question the atmosphere surrounding Greek life at Emory and in general, and whether or not it is accepting of homosexuality.
Fraternities are often stereotyped as places men can go to “get girls” or “hook up” without having to worry about long-term commitment. Due to this stereotype, which focuses very heavily on the importance of women, it is not far-fetched to think that homosexuals feel excluded from fraternity culture. For instance, the media portrays fraternities as places where gay men feel uncomfortable disclosing their sexuality. In the television show, Greek, a character named Calvin is a homosexual male living in a fraternity, and he only discloses his sexuality to a few friends due to a fear that he might not be accepted. He continues to have homosexual relations with men on campus, but it takes him a long time to feel more comfortable showing his sexuality, and some do not approve.
An article written by the Emory Wheel about the incident at Sigma Nu was posted online, and one male under the name ‘Conrad’ commented, saying: “As a gay person, I DO feel that Greek life is inaccessible to me. It seems hostile, homophobic, and as if y'all don't want me at the parties!” This comment shows the invisible barrier that seems to prevent gay students from feeling comfortable in or around fraternity culture. It is necessary to combat this inequality, and to erase the stigma that heterosexuality in fraternities is the norm.
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After reading Asher Smith’s title labeled “Gay Emory Student Dragged from Frat Party,” as well as the comments from other Emory students, I have come to a few conclusions that I believe can be deduced from the incident. Firstly, to discuss the article itself, many Emory students feel that it was poorly written because it was projected from a biased viewpoint and besides that, it shed bad media light on Emory as a community and how it treats its students who are LGBT. There are those who claim that this type of violent behavior should be something to expect from a fraternity/sorority
because these institutions have always made harsh judgments on students due to their “exclusivity,” and that it would be ignorant to assume that an incident like this could not occur at a college campus elsewhere. Because everyone knows that the media can do a rather successful job of blowing things out of proportion, it is pertinent to look at the facts before making assumptions about either student.
However, whether one reads the article posted on the Emory Wheel or the one posted on a different website, there are some aspects of the story that cannot be ignored. The point however, is not whether the article was poorly written or not, because I’m pretty sure that most should be able to decipher the facts from the fiction. The point is not that the gay student was wearing a “wizard hat, red pants, and lime-green jacket,” because I’m sure that there have been plenty of instances when a student has worn a ridiculous outfit—especially to a party on frat row. The point isn’t even that Adam tried to instigate a fight, because fights on frat row are nothing new. The point here IS that the gay student was tossed out of the party after Adam questioned him about his sexuality. Whether or not he was intoxicated, Adam should not have resorted to using violence or derogatory language, referring to the boy’s wizard hat as “F***ing gay.” The fact that he uses these homosexual slurs so nonchalantly, as if it was part of his everyday language, does not work in his favor as the person he is portraying himself as. As a graduate student, he should have known better than to use vulgar language, and that fact that he was drinking does not change his predicament. Is foolish behavior expected to displayed at a frat party? Sure. Is alcohol an excuse to blame your foolish behavior on? No. By dragging out the gay student, he
basically set an example for his friends and other onlookers that it’s completely okay to toss someone out of a party because of his or her sexual orientation. Though Adam has “apologized” for his ridiculous behavior, it does not change that fact that he has shamed Emory, his former fraternity, and most of all, himself.
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