Dear editor,
Re: Standing proud against hate, letter from Jason Maclennan, North Bay Pride, August 23 edition of the Fort Frances Times
North Bay Pride is the ram beating his head against the dam to expect Conservative politicians to condemn the recent violence such as University of Waterloo stabbings, but I question why supposedly intelligent university staff failed to respond to homophobia in March of 1973, when a University of Waterloo Teaching Assistant told me IN THE SEMINAR ROOM [homophobic words against the gay community]. So of course I came out the closet, but the UW gay club would not back me because I was devoted to the church and of course my church youth group could not back me. A UW counsellor was later telling my history professor everything I told her. In the 1990s students were still painting [a homophobic slur] on campus buildings, but it seems to me that the vice provost saw them as isolated incidents and not systematic homophobia. I feel the UW administration has constantly failed to address systematic homophobia, seemingly without criticism from the gay and lesbian club, when students unlike me just want to graduate and get their mortgage. First the LGBTQ community needs to unite. Then, tax supported institutions need to start doing their jobs.
Ron Welker
