Texas House of Representatives finally gives voice to straight white christian males.

[Correction]

Entire article in spoilers since it's a fair amount to read

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2...nal_values_too

tl;dr Conservative lobbyists try to kick gay/lesbian centers off public Texas university campuses by creating a mandate that said colleges spend equal amounts of money for centers that promote 'traditional' (read: anti-gay, socially conservative) values. Texas State House of Reps passes bill, Senate has yet to act.

Spoiler: show

Equal Time for 'Traditional Values'
April 25, 2011

The Texas House of Representatives has passed a budget bill that would require any public college with a student center on "alternative" sexuality to provide equal funding to create new centers to promote "traditional values."

While the Senate has yet to adopt a version of the budget bill, the inclusion of the measure in the overall budget bill and the dominance of social conservatives in Texas politics means that the measure could well be enacted. The House vote in favor of the amendment on the campus sexuality centers was 110-24.

Many Texas public colleges -- as is the case at many colleges elsewhere -- have centers within student affairs departments that serve gay and lesbian students. These centers sponsor programming, refer students who need counseling or support groups, and serve as advocates for gay and lesbian students on their campuses.

Representative Wayne Christian, a Republican, proposed the amendment, which would apply to any public colleges with a center "for students focused on gay, lesbian, homosexual, bisexual, pansexual, transsexual, transgender, gender questioning, or other gender identity issues." According to The Dallas Morning News, lawmakers "cracked jokes and guffawed" during debate, with one representative asking Christian what "pansexual" means. Christian urged the lawmaker to visit the centers at the University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M University to find out.

Lawmakers supporting the bill have said that they favor only equal time for all kinds of sexuality.

But the Young Conservatives of Texas, a group that worked with Christian on the legislation, did so with the hope that public colleges would respond to a law, if the bill passes, by ending support for existing centers. Tony McDonald, senior vice chairman of the group and a law student at UT Austin, said in an interview that "we could try to get these groups defunded" in a law, but that the equal funding approach was viewed as more likely to pass (perhaps with the same impact).

McDonald said that he doesn't believe universities should be funding centers on any sexuality or values -- traditional or otherwise. He said that students "who want to promote a homosexual lifestyle" can do so "on their own time and with their own money."

Requiring the creation of traditional values centers would "give the left a taste of its own medicine," he said. He charged that these centers "are encouraging folks who consider themselves homosexuals to go on considering themselves as such. That's the point of the centers, and that's not something Texas taxpayers should spend their money on."

While supporters of the centers have said that they are needed to provide support for students who are in a minority on campus, McDonald said that it is actually traditional students who lack power. "If I were to walk through UT law school with a shirt on that said, 'Homosexuality is immoral,' if I were to do that, there would be an uproar. People would be upset, and it would be considered out of place and not acceptable to do that. I'd probably get a talking to. But if you go through campus to promote homosexuality, that is the norm."

While McDonald said he hoped that, if the bill is enacted, public colleges eliminate existing sexuality centers, he said that there are good programs that could be sponsored by a traditional values center. He said that they might offer programs to encourage chastity or marriage between male and female students, for example.

The budget measure is prompting derision from Texas liberals. A column in The Texas Observer began this way: "Imagine the plight of the heterosexual student stepping on to a college campus for the first time. How will he fit in? Should he tell his new roommate about his alternative hetero lifestyle? Will he be bullied, just like he was in high school, where he was mercilessly teased for being a sexual deviant? Where does a straight person turn?"

While centers in Texas await the outcome of the budget bill, the debate has already accelerated at Texas A&M University, where the leadership of the Student Senate is pushing the university to go on record by saying that it would not increase student fees to create traditional values centers, but would cut the existing Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Resource Center in half to finance a new center. In debate over the issue, advocates for traditional values centers said that straight students who may be questioning their sexuality need a center just as much as gay students do. Students said it was important to create "an equal playing field" for those who may disagree with the gay center. (The discussion may be viewed here, starting about 1 hour and 45 minutes into the meeting.)

Lowell Kane, program coordinator for the gay center at Texas A&M, said that he could not comment on the state legislation. But he said it was hard for him to accept the idea that gay students somehow have it better than their straight counterparts because of the center at Texas A&M or elsewhere. He noted that in various surveys of gay students about how welcoming the university is, Texas A&M does not do well.

"I'm sure there are instances where an individual heterosexual person might feel oppressed," he said, and that's wrong. But it's also not the norm, he added. "What we are talking about is the difference between an individual instance and societal homophobia."

"If you walk into any campus classroom or student health services, most of what you find is geared toward a heterosexual population and not a GLBT population," Kane said. Noting the suicide last year of Tyler Clementi, a student at Rutgers University, Kane said, "I have never heard of any student who took their life because their college roommate outed them as being a heterosexual student."

And turning to comments from students at Texas A&M, he added, "I have never had a student come up and complain that someone comes up and out of the blue calls them a 'hetero' and slapped them, but that happens to my students, who are called 'dyke' and 'fag.' "
— Scott Jaschik

Obligatory 'but now where will Vince Young cruise for ass on weekends?' joke.

[wyrmtung]

Finally, someone is looking out for the hetero minority in Texas.

[Kuya]

Conservative straight people torment gays/bis, centers are created to help gays/bis deal with this torment, conservative straight people want centers destroyed. Man, they must really dislike those gays.

[Alarial]

My favorite part:


McDonald said that it is actually traditional students who lack power. "If I were to walk through UT law school with a shirt on that said, 'Homosexuality is immoral,' if I were to do that, there would be an uproar. People would be upset, and it would be considered out of place and not acceptable to do that. I'd probably get a talking to. But if you go through campus to promote homosexuality, that is the norm."

- He's actually upset he can't be an open bigot on campus without people calling him on it.

I don't know how to respond to people like that. Someone help me out here .

[Mizango]

If any of you guys know anything about Rick Perry's sorry ass then this comes as no surprise. This has been a hot button issue down here over the past few months. He and his people are worthless trash. Why the fuck do Texas keep reelecting him and his cronies? I dont get it.

[Mizango]

Inb4etcsomethingyada. Note I said his "cronies" as well, not all of this is on Perry's shoulders but he certainly doesn't disagree.

[Kuya]

My favorite part:


McDonald said that it is actually traditional students who lack power. "If I were to walk through UT law school with a shirt on that said, 'Homosexuality is immoral,' if I were to do that, there would be an uproar. People would be upset, and it would be considered out of place and not acceptable to do that. I'd probably get a talking to. But if you go through campus to promote homosexuality, that is the norm."

- He's actually upset he can't be an open bigot on campus without people calling him on it.

I don't know how to respond to people like that. Someone help me out here .

I think they're just assholes. I believe you've heard of the concept of Politically Correct? It is used by conservatives now when they aren't given free reign to be assholes.

You can pretty much bet that a guy who complains about how PC everything is is probably an asshole.

[Melena]

Because hating the gays = big donations from the church and money = politics. So if you ever want to get elected in a southern state, hate the gays.

[Mizango]

Throw spics and niggas in there too and you just upped your campaign donations ten-fold.

[Dimmauk]

http://www.outhousedesigns.com/image...ONTDPK_med.gif

Funny how the capital of Texas is way different than the hillbilly parts of Texas. I bet some wish they could secede from the Capital. LOL

[Soa]

If any of you guys know anything about Rick Perry's sorry ass then this comes as no surprise. This has been a hot button issue down here over the past few months. He and his people are worthless trash. Why the fuck do Texas keep reelecting him and his cronies? I dont get it.

Its Texas, is there really any other explanation needed?

[Alleya]

Next you'll tell me that I can't tell all these niggers to get back in my cotton fields, and that my wife is allowed to seek a divorce if I beat her ass.

What's america coming to?

[Mizango]

Its Texas, is there really any other explanation needed?

Oddly enough you're right.

Next you'll tell me that I can't tell all these niggers to get back in my cotton fields, and that my wife is allowed to seek a divorce if I beat her ass.

What's america coming to?

Fucking lol. idk brah

[Kuya]

Nothing makes liberals angrier than social conservatives.

[Alleya]

What makes me angry is these goddamn liberals treading on my rights by demanding equal treatment for their sick ways.

[aduidarnenye]

They should just take the homosexual/lesbian centres and add 'heterosexual services' to the title as well, and offer to counsel heterosexual students on their sexuality. Then they should be covered for this law I would think.

[Dimmauk]

If any of you guys know anything about Rick Perry's sorry ass then this comes as no surprise. This has been a hot button issue down here over the past few months. He and his people are worthless trash. Why the fuck do Texas keep reelecting him and his cronies? I dont get it.

You in enemy territory again? Where you at Esey?

[Mici]

I fucking hate what they are doing to college here. The quality of education you get is already one of the worst in the country. So how do they fix it?
More guns and less gays on campus, that will make us better at math.

They also don't want transgender people to get married either.

[dejet]

If I could take all the gay people in the world and buy a farm somewhere.

[Kuya]

If I could take all the gay people in the world and buy a farm somewhere.

SoHo