Clark Affirms Gay Rights

Law School Dean Robert C. Clark this week issued an open letter to the Law School community affirming that the school will protect the rights of gays and lesbians.

Clark made the statement in response to a recent issue by the undergraduate magazine Peninsula, which devoted 56 pages to criticizing homosexuality, the dean said in an interview.

The magazine had circulated throughout the Law School and had prompted concerns about the status of gays and lesbians at the school. Clark said in an interview with The Crimson this week.

In the letter, Clark maintained that Law School policy forbids discrimination based on sexual orientation in both admissions and with treatment of students.

"I am firmly committed to this policy of non-discrimination, and I hope that all of us in the community are committed to treating one another with genuine respect," Clark wrote.

Clark said in the letter that his own views were "antithetical" to those presented in the Peninsula article, calling their arguments "mistaken and cruel."

"I do not see homosexuality as an evil or a disease," he wrote. "I believe that gays and lesbians contribute in important and positive ways to our community, and should be treated as full and valued members."

Response to Clark's letter among members of HUGGABLES, the Harvard University Graduate Gay and Lesbian Association, was generally positive, said Roland L. Dunbrack '85, former co-chair of the group.

Dunbrack, also the assistant senior tutor of Mather House, said that the letter was significant because "a lot of deans and officials are afraid to voice their own "personal opinions on the issue."

"A lot of conservative institutions have been using 'PC' as a means of silencing the left," Dunbrack said.

While criticizing the magazine for its insensitivity, Clark also defended in the letter its right to free speech, a comment which echoed the sentiments expressed by President Neil L. Rudinstine in an open letter last month.

"Actions in the realm of freedom of expression and speech must be protected, even if they are offensive to the community," Clark wrote. "It seems clear that this principle protects all participants in the current controversy."

Clark warned, though, that the right to free speech should not be abused.

"To have a right to free speech does not mean that we should feel free to exercise it blindly," he wrote. "As a moral matter, each of us should consider and evaluate the consequences of our actions, including verbal acts."

Peninsula members interviewed yesterday said they found Clark's interpretation of the views expressed in their magazine to be surprising and incorrect.

"Many of the comments he made are blatantly false," said Roger J. Landry '92, a Peninsula council member, adding that Clark "inferred things that we never said."

Sean T. Brady '89, a third-year law student who also writes for Peninsula, agreed that Clark misinterpreted the magazine in asserting that its purpose was to prove that homosexuals are inherently bad.

"He makes it sound like Peninsula thinks homosexuals are inhuman," Brady said. "Peninsula argues that homosexual acts can hurt people and that homosexuality is bad. The impression you get from [Clark's letter] is that he thinks we said homosexuals are bad."

Clark said he responded to the issue after it was brought to his attention by several students and faculty members. He added that the magazine was easily available on the Law School campus