Dear Editor,
I wanted to address some misunderstandings I believe were in the opinion piece titled “Love Does Not Mean Acceptance”. The author claimed that “in a nutshell, the present dialogue at Houghton says, ‘Christians need to support and accept the LGBTQ community more’” and I don’t believe that is a fair reading of the current dialogue at all. Currently, there has been a proposed change to the Community Covenant that is attempting fix wording to respect the humanity of queer students and not characterize them as more sexual than any other students. The proposed revision takes out the phrase “homosexual behavior” and clarifies that Houghton believes in limiting sexual relations to a married man and woman only and asks all singles to refrain from engaging in sexual relations. That, as far as I understand, is the main dialogue at Houghton surrounding homosexuality, not “support and acceptance” in the light that the author portrays it in. This big misunderstanding makes me think that the author has not listened well enough to the people he disagrees with. Love may not mean acceptance, but it certainly means listening.
Thank you,
Emma Brittain
