Over at the Stanford Review home page, I’ve just posted an article about the recent controversy surrounding the Kappa Sigma listserv. One member of the fraternity sent an email to the fraternity’s email list that many students have called “homophobic.”
Here’s an excerpt from the piece explaining the email exchange:
The episode began with an email from Jonathan Anderson ’11 which requested that members of the fraternity “stop sending out messages with the word fag in them.” In the message, Anderson explained, “I know it’s not meant to be derogatory against gay people, but it does bother me.” The message was followed by an email from Bert McBride ’10, which read, “Delayed April Fools?”
Soon afterward, at least three members of the fraternity issued statements of deactivation on the Kappa Sig listserv. Zack Wettstein, who started the chain of deactivations, noted in his response to McBride, “I’m ashamed to be considered your ‘brother,’ let alone associated with you at all.”
The student, Bert McBride ’10, is the son of Alex Sink, the Chief Financial Officer of Florida and the likely Democratic nominee for the governor of Florida for the 2010 election. During the campaign, Sink has articulated strong pro-gay and lesbian positions.
The Miami Herald reported:
Alex Sink, Florida’s chief financial officer and the leading Democratic candidate for governor, told the state’s largest gay rights group Sunday that homosexuals should be allowed to adopt if it’s in the children’s “best interest.”
The Herald goes on, explaining the significance of the position to the overall campaign:
The issue offers a contrast between Sink and the Republican front-runner for governor, Attorney General Bill McCollum, whose office is defending the state’s ban on gay adoption.
For the complete story on the Kappa Sig controversy and the potential political implications of the episode, click here.