In print | November 9, 2006

To the editor:

In the Nov. 2 article on furor whipped up by the chalkings for Coming Out Week, a member of the class of ‘08 was quoted as saying "It’s straight week every other week of the year; it wouldn’t hurt for us to have our week." This ludicrous quote irked me greatly in that it evinces the image of a minority that is forced into silence and crushed underfoot for 51 weeks of the year. She is saying that for most of the year, the straights force their culture onto the rest of the population, affording not a single channel of expression for those who do not classify themselves as straight. It angers me to hear this coming from a Swarthmore student, for in this place, we are afforded more freedom of expression than anywhere, and there is no time period that restricts this expression for any group.

To say that every other week is straight week delves into vaults of ignorance that border on self-discrimination, for in saying this she has restricted her freedom of expression to a period of one week every year. As an African here, I have never felt pressed to restrict my cultural expression to Africa week, nor have I felt that Americans do anything to dominate the rest of the year. I wish to present the question of what stops you from expressing yourself throughout the rest of the year, and if the issue is expressing yourself through chalking or discussion, then who says you cannot chalk or bring up debates at any point if it helps you?

To say that straights dominate all aspects of life for most of the year in Swarthmore is tantamount to voluntary blindness, for in my view the queer community has been allotted a huge role in the Swarthmore experience, and it is a role that continues throughout the year. For me, this accusation that I and my kind force a group of people into cultural submission all year, except for a weeklong window of opportunity for expression of any sort, disturbs me to no end, and I wish to hear if this is truly the experience of most queer people. Hopefully this retort can expand into conversation that does not restrict discussions of this kind to one week.

Sven David Udekwu ’09

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