STRAIGHT disbands due to lack of membership

By ALEXANDRA RODRIGUEZ
Collegian Staff Writer

When Alex Cadman became president of Students Reinforcing Adherence in General Heterosexual Traditions in February 1998, he intended to change the concept of the organization, altering its political focus to a religious and moral one.

He planned to sponsor events, guest speakers and roundtable discussions with members of the former Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Student Alliance (LGBSA), now the Lambda Student Alliance (LSA).

All these plans have come to an end.

Due to lack of membership, by the end of the semester, STRAIGHT will cease to exist, Cadman said.

"In order to attract people, you need to be active, but in order to be active, you need to have people," he said. "I am more of an administrator. I don't have the time or the ability to get people involved."

Once STRAIGHT was accepted as a Penn State organization, members were no longer compelled to incite controversy and lost interest in the group, Cadman said. The group relied on the former LGBSA to be visible, he added, and once it became less active, STRAIGHT found itself without issues to address.

Cadman expressed concern the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and allied community would see STRAIGHT's disbanding as a victory. Yet Kelly Monaghan, co-director for Allies, expressed different views.

"I am disappointed that the group will cease to exist because it would have been a great resource for heterosexuals," she said. "I think there's a lot of problems that specifically heterosexuals have to deal with, like broken marriages and out-of-wedlock pregnancies, and I think the group should have focused on that."

Cadman also blames lack of support from Christian organizations for STRAIGHT's decline. These organizations did not want to attach their name to an organization considered to be a "hate group," he added.

Although the organization has faced many problems since its inception in 1997, Cadman does not consider STRAIGHT a failure.

"STRAIGHT helped to get away with the politically correct stigma, this fear of speaking out because you would be seen as a bigot or a homophobic," he said.

Heather Solimini, political co-director of LSA, expressed relief at the news.

"It's somewhat reassuring that there aren't enough people who feel this way, anti-gay, to form a club," she said.