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" href="http://blog.mlive.com/grpress/2008/04/aquinas_cancels_gayrights_spea.html" mce_href="http://blog.mlive.com/grpress/2008/04/aquinas_cancels_gayrights_spea.html">Grand Rapids Press, The Herald of ASU, WZZM TV News
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- A Catholic college named after the Catholic Church's most famous philosopher, Thomas Aquinas, has canceled a speech by a philosophy professor because the professor is a gay rights advocate.
A group of students from Aquinas College now is looking for an independent venue to host the presentation by John Corvino, a philosophy professor from Wayne State University.
Corvino's presentation "What's Morally Wrong with Homosexuality?" was scheduled last week at the college, but administrators postponed it until April 22 after receiving complaints.
Qnews update: Philosophy prof banned from Catholic college talks to students off campus (4/24)
Aquinas President Ed Balog canceled the event Thursday, saying it's not appropriate for an advocate, of gay rights, tolerance and compassion to speak on campus.
The administration here says some of Dr. Corvino's views are in direct opposition to the teachings of the Catholic Church.
"I'm not trying to keep people from seeing him. I'm trying to prevent the college from sponsoring an event that displays an attack on Catholic teaching values," Balog said.
The cancellation came a week before Pope Benedict XVI's scheduled meeting with more than 200 Catholic school officials from across the country. The gathering Thursday, at Catholic University in Washington, D.C., is being called a lecture, but Vatican watchers predict it will be an admonishment that teaching and activities at U.S. Catholic colleges and universities more closely adhere to church orthodoxy.
According to Corvino's Web site, the professor "challenges all sides of the debate to rethink easy assumptions about homosexuality."
He has been speaking out on gay rights for 15 years, and has spoken on other Catholic campuses.
Some Aquinas students said they are upset about the way administrators handled the issue. It has sparked an online debate in some parts of the community.
Tree Top Productions, an Aquinas student programming group, set up Corvino's visit and said it was approved by an adviser.
"The programming board had been actively advertising since January and they canceled the morning of the event. It was very disrespectful to Corvino, and to the students that wanted to hear him speak," said junior Bev Pels, 21.
"I think they're not bringing him because there's so much outside pressure. It's not that the administration is homophobic, but the policy appears to be that way and it's alienating to students."
She said organizers are hoping to find a new, off-campus venue that can seat up to 70 people. A group calling itself the Autonomous Student Network is making arrangements to bring Dr. Corvino to speak at the off-campus location later in the month but they say not to defy the administration.
Corvino has offered to speak for free.
The Autonomous Student Network says it is considering several possible locations for the event including the Grand Rapids Public Library.
Meantime, the college is developing a policy for student organizations to follow so they won't invite guest speakers, only to find they are not acceptable to the administration.
Corvino sells a DVD of the lecture he'd been scheduled to give at Aquinas. It's available at GayMoralist.com, along with an extended web trailer.
The site offers this summary of the lecture:
Is homosexuality unnatural? Does it threaten society? Are gays and lesbians "born that way"--and does it matter either way? In this provocative program, Dr. John Corvino tackles these questions and more. Combining philosophical rigor with sensitivity and humor, Corvino examines the most common arguments against same-sex relationships - including those based on nature, harm, and religion. In the process, he invites people on all sides to rethink easy assumptions about homosexuality and morality.
In an address to students at Arkansas State University last month, Corvino asked the students to think about why some folks get so worked up about same-sex marriage.
Gay relationships do not take away from other people's happiness, he argued. "Society has an interest in happy relationships," Corvino said. He also said that gay marriage is good for the children.
While most gay and lesbian couples don't have children, some do. "These children matter," said Corvino. "Same-sex marriage does not take children out of loving heterosexual homes."
Corvino then went on to talk about two things that marriage does. Legally, it creates next of kin. A person legally becomes family. The advantages of this range from visiting in the hospital to social security to American citizenship. Socially, marriage "says we're going to stand behind you and be a support net for you" to gay people.
While some people argue that if we legalize one type of marriage, why not legalize polygamy, incest and bestiality, Corvino said that he did not understand why these were associated with homosexuality; all of them can be heterosexual or homosexual. Each change in marriage must be evaluated on its own merits, he told the ASU students.
[post updated 9:19 PT with additional information from WZZM]
Full article: Aquinas cancels gay-rights speaker | Grand Rapids Press
Friends learned to agree to disagree on same-sex marriage debate | The Herald of ASU
Aquinas cancels gay rights speech | WZZM TV News