To the Editor:

Re the recent stories and editorials in The
University News concerning the
harassment of Rainbow Alliance students
at the Busch Center in October, much has
been made of the length of time it took for
the Alliance students to respond to and to
seek redress for this incident. It is
important to remember, at times like this,
how shocking an attack such as the one
described can be-as well as how
pervasive such attacks are when you are
openly lesbian, gay, bisexual, or
transgendered (LGBT).

According to the 2005 National School
Climate Survey, which includes responses
from 1,732 LGBT students between the
ages of 13 and 20 from all 50 states and
the District of Columbia, 75.4% of
students heard derogatory remarks such
as “faggot” or “dyke” frequently or often at
school, and nearly nine out of ten (89.2%)
reported hearing “that’s so gay” or “you’re
so gay” – meaning stupid or worthless-
frequently or often. Over a third (37.8%)
of students experienced physical
harassment at school on the basis of
sexual orientation and more than a
quarter (26.1%) on the basis of their
gender expression. Nearly one-fifth
(17.6%) of students had been physically
assaulted because of their sexual
orientation and over a tenth (11.8%)
because of their gender expression. In
addition, LGBT students were five times
more likely to report having skipped
school in the last month because of safety
concerns than the general population of
students. (http://www.glsen.org/cgi-bin/
iowa/all/library/record/1927.html)

If you grew up with that history, you might
reasonably wonder if the institutions of
society will protect you. Add to that, the
fact that this attack occurred at Saint Louis
University. In its Mission Statement, SLU
says that it “welcomes students, faculty
and staff from all racial, ethnic and
religious backgrounds and beliefs and
creates a sense of community which
facilitates their development as men and
women for others.” It is not uncommon
for LGBT persons to leave home to seek a
place where they can be safe, where they
can be themselves. To come to a place
such as SLU that holds out such a promise
and to have it betrayed in such a public,
humiliating way is incredibly traumatic.
To in any way blame the students who
were the objects of this attack as
participants in their victimization is not
unlike saying to a rape victim, hey, maybe
if you hadn’t dressed like that.

As for the unnamed professor who is the
alleged perpetrator, I wonder if he would
have felt as moved to verbally assault a
table of Jewish students or divorced
students who, apparently by his
reckoning, would be just as out of
communion with God and liable to go to
hell as the Alliance students.

For myself, as an openly gay man, I have
always felt very supported and valued at
SLU. I hope that we as a University
community will be able to assure that the
students who endured this attack that SLU
is a safe home for them also.

Ken Haller, MD
Associate Professor of Pediatrics
SLU School of Medicine
Co-Chair
SLU Faculty Senate Affirmative Action and
Diversity Committee