This time, Henson’s gone too far

First and absolutely foremost, whoever vandalized professor Henson’s office door is a sorry excuse for a human. If you are that opposed to his views or way of life, talk to him about it; I’m sure he would be willing to listen to what you have to say. It was a cowardly, disgraceful act that you should be absolutely ashamed of. The only thing you’ve done is prove your ignorance, stupidity and lack of class. No person should be attacked like professor Henson was, and I know I am not alone when I let him know that students here do not stand for this person’s bigotry.

However, Professor Henson has taken this incident and drawn some extremely far-reaching parallels. I am glad that he has decided to no longer lump together all Bush supporters as homophobes, because this was the most disturbing of all his claims. I know that if a student was to claim that all Kerry supporters were terrorists, Henson would have a field day.

It is unacceptable that he would write such an offensive thing himself. Are there homophobes who are Bush supporters? Yes. Are there homophobes who were Kerry supporters? Yes. There are also many people who support gay marriage or are merely indifferent to the issue that supported Bush. Claims like these are what make people so unbelievably irate when they read Professor Henson’s comments.

Having a Henson editorial without him attacking President Bush or those who are religious would be like having an episode of Jeopardy with no questions to answer. Once again, Henson has gone too far in lumping groups together on his own terms.

I am reminded of the ever so dim-witted statement, “George Bush doesn’t care about black people” by the man of words himself, Kanye West. One might think he would have put his foot in his mouth if he had thought for one second about the number of black people in Bush’s cabinet, appointed to high courts by Bush or who work as his advisors and supporters. If one had thought this, he or she would be wrong.

Professor Henson has continued this trend by labeling Bush, directly and indirectly, as homophobic. He quoted one, let me repeat one, political columnist, Joshua Green, throughout his editorial when discussing Rove’s tactics to help Republicans win elections. There are many key phrases that you may have noted throughout the editorial such as “Green detailed,” “Green noted,” and “Green observed.”

This is one political columnist’s opinion of a man that works for Bush. Henson takes it too far by asserting that Bush is homophobic and then covers his tracks by saying one of his surrogates may be homophobic. I do not know if Rove is homophobic or not, and neither does Henson. This does not stop professor Henson from labeling the President of the United States a homophobe.

Please tell me, professor Henson, why President Bush, who you have determined is homophobic, would hire a gay man as his campaign manager and then go on to support him as the chairman of the Republican National Committee?

I am sick and tired of hearing that anything people on the right may believe is a product of that “insane” religious right, in the words of many on the left. I do not support gay marriage for my own reasons, not because the Bible says so. I leave it up to you to decide for yourself what you believe about gay marriage — I am not here to debate that issue.

Yes, I am a Christian. Christianity teaches tolerance and love for all (except Michael Moore — just kidding, sort of). Beyond that, I make my political decisions on my own, just like so many others in this country.

To end just as I have started, bigotry is unacceptable. Some may think me a bigot after they read this, but I truly hope this is not the case. I do not hate professor Henson, but I strongly disagree with most of the editorials he writes (not all though, surprised anyone?). The issue I take with him right now is his labeling President Bush as homophobic and grouping all Bush supporters as homophobes.

Please do not misconstrue my disagreement with Henson’s editorial as anything other than a regular disagreement. As stated time and time again, civil discourse is essential to a university campus, and Professor Henson and I maintain cordial discussions over our differences of opinions.

Kevin Lavelle is a a sophomore management science major. He may be reached at [email protected].