Editor’s Note: After Chris Donohoe ’09 finished his term as vice president of Chi Alpha Christian Fellowship, he was set to become a member of the leadership team last fall. The organization’s pastors, however, stipulated that he could hold this position as long as he did not engage in a relationship with another man. After Donohoe met his boyfriend, Jarrod Schaeffer ’09, last summer, the pastors asked Donohoe to step down from the team without consulting the rest of the organization.

Discrimination is a fact of life for many members of the LGBT community. In fact, according to CNN, almost 90 percent of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students report being harassed in some form. Likewise, recent statistics from the FBI reveal that crimes related to sexual orientation rank among the top three most common hate crimes nationwide. As recently as February of last year, a 15 year-old in California was murdered just for asking another boy in his class to be his valentine. This prejudice is oftentimes fueled by fundamentalist religious groups that decry homosexuality as sinful and immoral. The recent actions by Chi Alpha demonstrate that this discrimination is found even here at our beloved Cornell.

Chi Alpha claims its beliefs are dictated by the Bible, but in reality they are based on personal interpretations of the Word of God. Although cries of “God has a plan for marriage and this isn’t it!” and, “Allowing this kind of marriage will pave the way for all sorts of moral depravity!” today refer to same-sex marriage, in the mid-1900s these claims were uttered in opposition to interracial marriage. Principles that are said to come directly from the Bible are often transmitted by way of charismatic individuals whose personal ideologies become elided with so-called “biblical truths.” The Bible is a historical work and there are portions that are simply ignored today — even by fundamentalists and the members of Chi Alpha. If these groups were truly to follow the Bible literally, they would still put to death people who gather sticks on the Sabbath or who eat shrimp. On top of that, there are dozens of different biblical translations and religious denominations that each say different things about the same book. The members of Chi Alpha interpret the Bible in accordance with a sense of morality that is consonant with their personal faith. They reject passages that have become socially unacceptable or that with which they do not agree — everything else becomes God’s Truth.

Unfortunately, the members of Chi Alpha do not understand homosexuality or see how its actions are hurtful to others. This is made clear by Danielle D’Ambrosio’s ’10 contradictory statement that she and Chi Alpha “have nothing against Chris or another person for choosing to be a homosexual.” Homosexuality is not a choice. The American Psychological Association, the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and countless gay and lesbian men and women have attested to this fact. I have personally seen the agony and struggle that Chris has endured while trying to reconcile his faith and his sexuality. If homosexuality were possible to cast off, he would have. Asserting agency in relation to sexuality makes discrimination especially harmful because it ascribes personal responsibility and implies that a gay person is somehow morally or religiously deficient. By projecting this lie, Chi Alpha demands acceptance of a doctrine that vilifies homosexual feelings and that leads to the internalization of severe feelings of anxiety, guilt and shame among gay people.

I applaud the brave and respectful actions of the Student Assembly yesterday — especially Asa Craig ’11, Nikki Junewicz ’10 and Eric Shannon ’09, who presented Resolution 41. Yet I was struck by how much of the proceeding seemed to treat homosexuality simply as a “belief” or “practice.” Why is the gay community reduced to this? Dissecting a person to debate whether they only believe homosexuality is wrong or if they actually acted in accordance with that belief misses the point. More importantly, it denies their personhood — it denies that gay individuals are people just as African-Americans, Latinos and Jews are people. It is not possible, as Jessica Longoria ’09 and D’Ambrosio so flippantly stated, to love homosexuals while rejecting their sexuality. Sexuality is an inseparable part of who we are, and is linked with our search for love, affection, happiness. Discrimination against gays and lesbians is similar to the bias faced by African-Americans, but it is a prejudice based on perceived morality rather than skin color. The struggle of gays and lesbians is that we must actually prove our own moral character and personhood. Why? How would society have us do this?

The gay rights movement is more than just a quest for equality on the basis of sexual orientation. It is a cultural revolution that challenges notions of morality that discriminate against minority groups. The gay community is composed of your family members, friends and coworkers. Raised to believe in the American dream and to prize love, family and success, we want equality and the freedom to contribute to the lives of our friends and our communities. Before any of this can be accomplished, Americans must come to recognize that the power to define moral principles should not and cannot be reserved for a few privileged groups. I think it is high time that Cornell and the United States engage in a serious debate about our commitment to liberty and equality.