Court: STRAIGHT is too anti-homosexual

STRAIGHT would not have been beneficial to the University community, image or educational climate, according to the Undergraduate Student Government Supreme Court's official majority decision.

"We didn't do the easiest thing. We didn't do the most popular thing. We did the right thing," said Associate Justice Jit Chatterjee, who wrote the opinion because he is the most senior voting member on the court.

The decision, which was released yesterday afternoon, describes the court's main reasons for denying a charter to the Students Reinforcing Adherence In General Heterosexual Tradition. According to their mission statement, STRAIGHT was supposed to be a group which would provide students with a forum to "express their views regarding their refusal to accept or support homosexuality."

"Two words -- they rock," Duane Gildea said of USG.

Gildea, political co-director of the Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Student Association, added, "My respect for them grows daily. . . . I didn't know it was going to be so well thought out."

STRAIGHT President Darin Loccarini had a different reaction. He said the reasons behind the decision applied a double standard to his group.

"It's hypocritical from start to finish," Loccarini said. "Things that don't apply to other organizations apply to us because of who we're opposing."

Loccarini added he intends to appeal the decision through the University appeals process or to the state courts if necessary.

Because the court viewed the group as being more anti-homosexual than pro-heterosexual, as the name implies, the court said the group had no well-defined, long-term goals. However, the question of STRAIGHT becoming intolerant or violent was not a factor in the court's decision, according to the majority opinion.

"That would have been a different group had they done what their initials imply," Chatterjee said.

Another problem was that officers and members of STRAIGHT had different agendas and goals, which failed to create a cohesive group, according to the decision.

"It doesn't matter because every member of an organization doesn't have to be in agreement," Loccarini said. He said the response he has received through E-mail has been in support of the group's mission statement and purpose.

Gildea said all executive members of LGBSA are in agreement about STRAIGHT's mission statement and long-term goals.

The court said such a group "would have created much bitterness and tension in the Penn State community . . . ."

But the decision might have created more discussion in the community.

"The issue of homosexuality has taken a back seat to the issue of equal representation," Loccarini said. "To see many of the LGBSA people here at a place that has been a place of hostility to them, I'm delighted."

Crowds of students from both LGBSA and STRAIGHT gathered in front of the Willard Building to discuss the decision. Many seemed to feel the issue was one of constitutional rights, but the decision states that the court is not denying STRAIGHT any First Amendment rights.

"They're there. They are gathering there to discuss and talk about the decision. They're assembling," Chatterjee said. "We're not infringing upon their rights."

Jon Feinberg, co-coordinator of the Penn State chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said the national and state chapters of ACLU will be looking to the decision. They will attempt to determine if the decision and the purpose of STRAIGHT is an adequate compromise between gay, lesbian and bisexual rights and First Amendment rights.

The only thing the decision is stopping STRAIGHT from doing is using general funds and University rooms and facilities for general meetings. The group can still apply for programming funds from the Student Organization Budget Committee, which come out of the $25 student activity fee.