In mid-October, Gallaudet University placed Chief Diversity Officer Angela McCaskill on administrative leave in response to her support of a petition which called for Maryland’s controversial gay marriage law to be put to popular vote.
The petition in question, which McCaskill signed following a Sunday church service, did not explicitly support the overturn of Maryland’s current pro-gay marriage law, but merely called for the issue to be voted upon. McCaskill and her supporters view her decision to sign the petition as an action in support of the democratic process, and not, as her opponents claim, an action of homophobia.
“I’m dismayed that Gallaudet University is still a university of intolerance, a university that manages by intimidation, a university that allows bullying among faculty, staff and students,” McCaskill said at a news conference.
During her tenure as Chief Diversity Officer, McCaskill has been well liked by the university’s apparently thriving LGBT community, as well as throughout the student body as a whole. Despite this, many Gallaudet students feel that, although McCaskill has not publicly revealed her stance on gay marriage, her support of a petition which could potentially limit the rights of the LGBT community is inappropriate for an individual in her position.
Although she has stated publicly that she is not against “being gay,” McCaskill has never publicly stated her position on gay marriage. Her unwillingness to publicly support gay marriage creates a very small definition of diversity that excludes an important sector of the university’s community.
Gay marriage is a civil rights issue. It is irrelevant whether the state’s decision not to recognize same-sex marriages—or call them “unions” as a way to set them apart from heterosexual marriages—is motivated by animus toward gay people or by concern for the definition of marriage. Either way, establishing tiers of recognition targets a specific group of people, undermining their status as equal citizens.
Given her role as Gallaudet’s Chief Diversity Officer, which makes her an advocate for the equality of all students regardless of race, gender, and sexual orientation, McCaskill should take a progressive stance on the issue of gay marriage. Change requires activism, and McCaskill’s passivism on the issue thus far calls into question whether she is the right person to play the role of Diversity Officer in the Gallaudet community.
