Michigan students defend LGBT rights

On Sept. 25, lesbian, gay, bi and trans students and their supporters at Michigan State University in East Lansing came out to protest a speech sponsored by the rightwing Young Americans for Freedom campus organization. YAF was hosting a lecture by Ryan Sorba, a reactionary student from southern California who came to speak on the topic of “the born-gay myth,” which is also the title of a book Sorba is supposedly writing.

WW photo: Kris Hamel

According to the Young Conservatives of California, of which Sorba is a member, his speech aimed to “expose the complete fabrication contrived by ‘pro-sodomy’ activists in a legal and public relations campaign to gain minority status as a suspect class under the 1964 Civil Rights Act.” Sorba’s lecture states that all persons are born heterosexual and that homosexuality is “unnatural” and “immoral.”

If YAF thought they could have free reign on campus to spout this vile message, they were dead wrong. When it became known to the campus community that YAF was sponsoring the reactionary anti-LGBT lecture, bisexual activist and student leader Lauren Spencer initiated meetings with LGBT individuals and organizations to plan a response.

LGBT students and allies at MSU organized on a few days’ notice for a demonstration outside of the YAF lecture. than 150 people came out in support of LGBT rights and liberation. Most of them were young women. They included a grouping of Chicana and Latina students there in solidarity.

The demonstrators filled the auditorium where Sorba was giving his vitriolic presentation. With colorful signs and rainbow flags, they vastly outnumbered the handful of reactionary students and YAF members. When the meeting began and everyone was asked to stand for the “pledge of allegiance,” the protesters sat down. Constant cell phone ringing, loud conversations, hisses and laughter filled the hall. When Sorba many times stumbled on his words, the protesters laughed and applauded thunderously.

In April YAF had sponsored a program featuring Chris Simcox, leader of the ultrareactionary and racist Minutemen organization. At that meeting, campus cops, aided and abetted by racist students in YAF, brutalized Latin@ students and suppressed the anti-racist protest, arresting five students, two of whom faced felony charges. Subsequently, police raided the homes of anti-racist students.

YAF was founded on Sept. 11, 1960, at the Sharon, Conn., estate of millionaire William F. Buckley, Jr., to support Barry Goldwater’s bid for the presidency. Ronald Reagan joined the YAF national advisory board in 1962 and was honorary advisor until his death. Reagan was the “standard bearer” and a key leader of YAF who embodied their goals.

Last year, the MSU chapter of YAF became the first university-recognized and -sponsored hate group to be listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project.

YAF has announced the return to MSU of Chris Simcox of the Minutemen on Nov. 13, when the group will sponsor a meeting featuring the racist leader. Student organizers are already planning a response.