In a round-about effort to end governmental support for LGBT centers on public college campuses, the Texas house of representatives passed a budget provision requiring any school with a gay center to offer the same financial support to a "traditional values" center.
The Texas house passed the budget provision earlier this month by a 110-24 margin, reports Inside Higher Ed. If passed by the senate and signed into law by the governor, the legislation would require equal funding for promoting "family and traditional values." The group that worked with the bill's sponsor is the Young Conservatives of Texas. The group's senior vice chairman, Tony McDonald, admits he hopes, if the bill passes, all public universities in Texas will defund LGBT centers rather than provide equal money for conservative centers — McDonald believed legislation to cut funding from gay centers was less likely to pass, so his group advocated for the "traditional values" centers.
McDonald told Inside Higher Ed that students "who want to promote a homosexual lifestyle" can do so "on their own time and with their own money."
40 comments
If I ran one of these colleges, I'd establish a "traditional values" center. The traditional values in question would be specifically listed as: loyalty, honesty, courtesy, and fair treatment of other people. Gender and sexual orientation would never be mentioned, because hating gay people may be traditional, but it certainly isn't of any value.
In other words, I'd obey the letter of this unjust law while defying the fuck out of its spirit.
@dionysus: Lady forbid we should ever start a university in Texas! XD We'd break too many fundie brains.
Because counselling and support groups for a traditionally marginalized portion of the population truly needs to be balanced out by college organizations promoting the same old bigotry.
The annoying part is that you know that the far right is going to go on a jihad of sorts once the courts toss this out on its ass. The promotion of "traditional values" boils down to state-sponsored religious indoctrination. The far right loves to try to pass legislation that pisses all over the Constitution so that they can get all up in arms against the "activist courts" once said legislation is declared unconstitutional.
McDonald told Inside Higher Ed that students "who want to promote a homosexual lifestyle" can do so "on their own time and with their own money."
Students who want to evangelize about Christianity, however, can have all the money they want, right?
Also, make sure to inform these "Young Conservatives" that "Conservative" in politics used to mean being for small government , not being spasmodically reactionary towards anything that doesn't conform with the maniacal puritanism that has infested America.
Fine, we'll build traditional values centers where they'll talk about the merits of polygamy, Paganism, and nudity. What? You never specified HOW traditional they needed to be. Like The_L I'd follow the letter of the law but find every way possible not to follow the spirit of it.
"requiring any school with a gay center to offer the same financial support to a "traditional values" center. "
So you'll be encouraging a wall of separation of church and state? Because that's part of traditional American values.
Students who want to promote a pro bullshit-mythology lifestyle can do so on their own time and with their own money.
Also, despite you morons' howls of "persecution" when somebody disagrees with you, Christians are not a persecuted minority. Many LGBT students, on the other hand, have had to do with actual, you know, REAL persecution, and can benefit from clubs in which they can discuss their challenges and support each other. And seems like churches aren't exactly throwing their doors open for them, especially not in dumbfuck places like Texas.
"In a round-about effort to end governmental support for LGBT centers on public college campuses, the Texas house of representatives passed a budget provision requiring any school with a gay center to offer the same financial support to a "traditional values" center."
I hope said schools say to said Texas HoR, 'Okay. When fundie churches in Texas give up their tax-exempt status, and start ponying up the funds to said 'traditional values centre(s) - as well as the 'gay centres'. And to generally 'Render Unto Caesar' (i.e. the Federal govt.) just as everyone else has to.
...oh, and it becomes compulsory for the preachers in said churches to preach from "On the Origin of Species", "The God Delusion" etc, and that they must say that God doesn't exist. '
Now, you want to add that amendment to said legislation, or will you just fuck off ?
So... it's not fair unless you have a bunch of tightassed young Christians trying to tell everyone that being gay is evil & morally wrong?
Remember, the buzzwords "family" and "traditional values" really means "keeping them damn queers in the closet where they belong, and while we're at it, keeping them damn women pregnant and in the kitchen where they belong."
@WMDKitty
They can just call them "sexual preference centers" instead, then they are equal for all.
I didn't know that the opposite of conservative was gay...
God doesn't seem that happy with this, does he?
Oops, I still haven't logged in, and forgot to state my username. This is Swede. I'm logging in RIGHT NOW!
There's no need for a "traditional values" center since Christians have been the dominating force for most of this country's history while gays have always been the persecuted minority. That's why college campuses have gay centers, as a safe haven for them, so Tony McDonald, you can go screw yourself.
@WMDKitty
If you do, maybe we can be more harsh on the laws. After all, Mexico's laws (if applied correctly) are better than the U.S.A. (ex. freedom of speech: in the U.S.A. there's freedom of speech. In Mexico there's freedom of speech as long as you don't affect others. That's why in Mexico there'd never be any Westboro Baptist Church or Neo-Nazis). Maybe then we can exterminate the ignorance that has fallen on Texas.
Edit: This was Fawful has seen God has a vagina on top of his penis.
Like conservatives with "traditional values" are discriminated against in the first place. Like they *need* a special center.
I also love how they think they own the term "family." Like LGBT people don't have families and aren't included in anybody's family, ever. If they're going to promote "family values" they should promote everyone's families, including LGBT people. To not do so would be anti-family.
And Tony McDonald is a right asshole to the extreme.
Wow, Tony, that false balance fallacy is on steroids! Do you also think that for each rape victims support center or shelter for victims of domestic abuse, equal funding should go to abusers support centers*? Or to uneducation centers for each school? (Oh, wait! You already managed to get these tax-exempt status)
You see, a social issue is not like an equation: the two side are not necessarily equal; sometimes one side is right and the other one wrong, and in the current case, you and the homophobes who support you ARE. JUST. WRONG.
* As in a center where abusers would get support when their motivation to abuse is declining, medical help if they no longer can rape/abuse, or find replacement victims. Centers to rehabilitate them and help them deal with the issues that caused them to become abusers would be another matter entirely, of course (or in the current case centers where bigots and homophobes could get help)
What exactly are "traditional values"?
Segregation?
If they want to have a center that offers advice about keeping one's virginity until marriage, they better hire a very patient counselor, one who can go weeks and months without any clients.
McDonald told Inside Higher Ed that students "who want to promote a homosexual lifestyle" can do so "on their own time and with their own money."
And students "who want to promote tranditional values" can do so "on their own time and with their own money(instead of the taxpayers)."
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
To post a comment, you'll need to Sign in or Register . Making an account also allows you to claim credit for submitting quotes, and to vote on quotes and comments. You don't even need to give us your email address.
