Smith College students protest the ’Born Gay Hoax’

Okay, Smith College in North Hampton, MA. Did they think something like this would go over at Smith? Its like inviting Michael Savage to speak at the Harvey Milk School!


From Bay Windows:

When Smith Republican Club members hung a banner advertising a speaking engagement at the college for Ryan Sorba, author of The Born Gay Hoax they probably planned for a moderate turnout, and certainly expected that attendees would at least come in through the door.

But neither was the case. Videos and photos of protests sparked by Sorba’s April 29 appearance at the college have been posted on Queertoday.com and Massresistance’s website. Each of the videos show the room full to capacity with people chanting and cheering, drowning out Sorba’s speech. At one point, the large arched windows at the rear of the hall can been seen to be opened and more protesters step into a room already crowded with students clapping, cheering, and chanting "We’re here. We’re Queer. Get used to it!"

Students eventually surround the podium and, after some inaudible discussion with security and a very defeated looking Republican Club member, Sorba is escorted out of the room.

http://www.baywindows.com/index.php?ch=news&sc=blog&sc2=news&sc3=&id=74016

There are also video footage of the event and a copy of a notice posted to the school's web site at the link.

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Good for those wacky gals--note to speaker and his booker--know your audience!

Oh and papa, "We're here, we're queer, get used to it" is NOT the same as personal attacks and name-calling. The students have a right to voice their opinions in an environment in which they have paid to be members. It's NOT a public forum.

Updated On: 5/6/08 at 04:39 PM

I'm with you Pops. You can't expect to be heard if you won't listen yourself.

"i hope their next meeting is interrupted by a gang of men chanting, 'whores.'"

I would LOVE to see that...

And it was a speaking engagement--not a meeting.

No, it's because the students PAY to go to Smith College and have a right to protest anything they'd like--just like the Gay Student Association was protested at my college campus.

I would imagine that a Holocaust-denying guest speaker would receive the same treatment at a Jewish college.

"those queers ought to know better than to take their lies to such places, right?"

Once again, the protesters didn't have to resort to name-calling. They stuck to "we're here/we're queer"...think you can manage the same?

Wow, Smith College is probably the worst place to have an event like this. You really can't say that the club who booked him didn't expect this.

Did anyone actually read the website?

The photo caption reads, "Dykes to watch out for: Smith College students shut down speech by Ryan Sorba, author of The Born Gay Hoax."

Didn't an employee of Jamba Juice get in trouble for calling a customer dyke? What's the difference here?

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I completely agree with Papa; a group who claims to be silenced sure did a phenomenal job of silencing Sorba. This was nothing more than a pseudo-powered attempt at proving a point.

papa - I didn't mean college students in general, I meant Smith students - known for being very liberal, feminist majority, and a very large percentage of lesbian students. Whether or not it was right or wrong does not change the fact that it was expected.

Also, on the subject of the actual speech, I looked into it a little bit, and some of what he's saying is just blatantly incorrect:
Ryan's lecture insists that all people are "born straight" and that there is a "born gay" hoax that has been furthered without any scientific evidence. The idea of being "born gay" is relatively new to the homosexualist movement, yet this idea has had terrible consequences.

Personally, I don't mind if people think homosexuality is wrong, evil, disgusting, etc. but when someone tries to tell me that I chose to be gay? That I went through all this crap in the last few years for no reason other than my sexuality because I wanted to? Because I woke up one morning and thought that maybe being gay is fun? That's where we have a problem.

Free speech works both ways.

He was outnumbered in this case.

You ride the bus?

Well, g'on witya bad self.

Namaste uses his magic carpet to get around.