In response to the Duke Conservative Union's advertisement in the Nov. 14 issue of The Chronicle, I'd like to make it abundantly clear that the comments I have made to The Chronicle and to other individuals and publications about same-sex unions in the Chapel were never intended or professed to represent the other members of Gothic Queers or the Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender community.
I speak for myself as a member of the Duke community and for no one else. I take complete responsibility for my own opinions and I have stated this fact several times. Perhaps the Duke Conservative Union's executive board members should have a legitimate mandate before proclaiming what the members of the Gothic Queers believe.
The religious freedom that every citizen has doesn't give anyone the right to infringe on the rights of others. A group of students doesn't have the right to deny those who hold different religious or moral beliefs access to University resources on the grounds that they simply disagree with their practices. Conservative Christians don't control the Chapel, nor should they.
A multi-denominational facility must embrace the practices and views of all denominations, and a University facility must follow our commitment to nondiscrimination and inclusiveness of all Duke community members. The current Chapel policy accomplishes neither. If your religious and moral views dictate that you shouldn't perform or participate in same-sex union ceremonies, then don't. Religious freedom doesn't give any group the right to determine the truth for anyone else or deny another denomination or organization the right to use the chapel as they see fit. There shouldn't be a safe space on campus for people to arbitrarily discriminate against each other.
By the way, I'm not the only person with an opinion on this campus. Why don't you at the DCU rake someone else over the coals for a while?
Jillian Johnson
Trinity '03
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