Yesterday we reported on a campus-wide email sent by Hillside College chaplain Peter Beckwith asking community members to pray for the destruction of "evil" same-sex marriage being considered by the Supreme Court. One of the recipients of that email was openly gay former Hillsdale basketball player Derek Schell.
The anti-gay email elicited strong response. Outsports receive many emails and messages, including several from a player on the Hillsdale women's basketball team who said she didn't necessarily support the campus-wide email, but that she totally 100% absolutely opposed Outsports' coverage of said email.
Several members of the Hillsdale football team engaged in a Twitter conversation about the email. Offensive lineman Zach Vanorman was none too happy about the call for a prayer session at Hillsdale designed to oppose "evil" same-sex marriage.
Fellow Hillsdale offensive lineman Justice Karmie didn't appreciate VanOrman's opposition to the email:
@VanO_76 @zvanorman74 Please tell me you guys are kidding…
— Justice Karmie (@jkarmie52) May 5, 2015 Karmie then went to an old standby, comparing homosexuality to another "sin," murder:
@NickShuster So I shouldn’t stand up against murder because I’ll upset the serial killers club?
— Justice Karmie (@jkarmie52) May 5, 2015 VanOrman called him out on the analogy:
@jkarmie52 you’re comparing murder to being gay? Really? I have no words for that.
— Zach VanOrman (@zvanorman74) May 5, 2015 Karmie again went to the anti-gay well, claiming that attacking people who are against equality and freedom is attacking freedom:
@zvanorman74 You’re standing up against someone sharing an opinion and calling to action. That’s oppression of freedom.
— Justice Karmie (@jkarmie52) May 5, 2015 Offensive lineman Nick Chappell jumped into the fray, bringing some practical reality to the situation that has created an increasingly divisive, fear-driven atmosphere on campus.
@jkarmie52 @VanO_76 that email was horrible. The language of it is horrible. Man should lose his job in my opinion.
— Nick Chappell (@NickChappell76) May 5, 2015 Chappell rounded out his thoughts, and the thoughts of a lot of Hillsdale students and alumni, pretty clearly:
If church kept its nose out of legislation, I wouldn’t have to receive ignorant emails from our hatred filled administration.
— Nick Chappell (@NickChappell76) May 5, 2015
It will be interesting to watch how this episode unfolds at Hillsdale College and other anti-LGBT institutions across the country. Will they cling to a past in which it was acceptable to opposed equality for gay people, or will they embrace the perspectives of the majority of the increasingly large majority of Americans? And at what point will the NCAA make it unacceptable for association members to practice bigotry? Hopefully we will find out soon.
