A New Debate at Ole Miss
I was excited to receive Aubrey Sarvis' invitation to participate in a forum at The University of Mississippi last week. Although not the Presidential Debate, this platform held national and regional lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) representatives from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), the National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC), Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) and, of course, the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN), which was represented by our Executive Director Aubrey Sarvis, former Sergeant Darren Manzella and me. Because I am a graduate of Ole Miss and a native of Mississippi, it also held a great deal of personal meaning.The Mississippi of my youth was segregated, openly harbored bigotry and did not tolerate diversity well. In 1962, my distant cousin, Governor Ross Barnett, stood in the doorway of Ole Miss to deny enrollment to James Meredith, an African American. When the federal government enforced Meredith's right to equality, riots ensued that left two people dead and scores of persons injured.
Likewise, the case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka was decided the year I was born, in 1954, but was not really enforced in Mississippi until I was a sophomore in high school. Public school integration was more peaceful, but it was no less momentous. I was the beneficiary of James Meredith, Dr. King, Thurgood Marshall, Medgar Evers and so many others, because my education included black students as peers. What did I learn? That they were like me. And I learned to be suspicious of discrimination toward any minority.
Yet, when I went to undergraduate school at Ole Miss, there were no gays or lesbians enrolled. Of course, there were, but the society could not endure openly diverse sexual orientation then. Now, these pro-LGBT groups were on stage before a large audience at the behest of the student-led Gay Straight Alliance. The administration at Ole Miss actually paid for the reception that followed. I allowed myself a little bit of school pride that what in the 1960's had been a symbol of hate and intolerance had become a place where discussions of LGBT rights were not only tolerated but encouraged. It gave me hope.
As I walked to an SLDN workshop on campus the next day, I walked past the monument to James Merideth and the Civil Rights Movement. The monument shows him striding toward an open door, over which are inscribed these words: Courage, Perseverance, Knowledge, Opportunity. It occurred to me that this is the path that we are on, a path of civil rights, of human rights. With courage, perseverance, with knowledge as our shield, we will reach that door of opportunity. LGBT rights will prevail, and "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" will fall.
09-30-08 By Retired Rear Admiral Jamie Barnett |
1 Comments
Comments for this entry are closed.Tom Carpenter on October 01, 2008 at 10.59 am
I lived in South Carolina in the 60’s and recall separate drinking fountains and the requirement that Blacks sit in the back of the bus. I attended the first high school in the state that was forced to integrate. Back then, Ole Miss was a symbol of white supremacy. I share Admiral Barnett’s sense of pride that this sad past is behind much of the south. It gives me great encouragement that Ole Miss would support and sponsor an event that calls for LGBT equality. Straight allies such as Admiral Barnett will make equality a reality in our lifetime.