For those of you who believe that our university is immune to archaic thought and non-progressive thinking, I’m sorry to tell you…we’re not.
I hear people say things like “Gay people basically have equal rights” and “The world is totally accepting of gay people nowadays” all the time. Obviously, this is not the case, but for those who find themselves making similar sentiments, here is a story that will rock your world.
Last Tuesday I was in one of my classes, and we were reading about Virginia Woolf. Our professor (who is prone to tangents) got to talking about her sister (God only knows why) and said “My sister is a horrible mother, it’s no wonder that one of her son’s is in prison and the other one is gay”. I was irate, and speechless, but one of my more composed classmates spoke up and responded “I don’t think being gay has anything to do with bad parenting” to which the professor replied, “Well what I meant was that she never steered him towards women, or in the right direction”. I just walked out of the class, I had heard enough. The professor later apologized for the statement, saying essentially that what she really meant was that it wasn’t this boy’s fault that he was gay.
Obviously, this is problematic (not to mention disgusting). The really disturbing part of this story is that the class is a GenEd class, full of underclassmen. I found this to be shocking. I had previously thought that JMU had progressed past the point of having professors who were so openly homophobic, so this really came as a surprise. This experience was eye opening to me, and I consider myself to be pretty informed and disillusioned with the whole “gays are basically equal” sentiment. Hopefully the next time you over hear someone say this, or catch yourself saying it, you will think of this. Obviously, even someone with a PhD is not immune to regressive thoughts such as these.
For those of you worried about the outcome of this situation, not to fear! I have already reported the professor, and there will be action taken against her.
ShoutOut! James Madison University 
I’m glad you reported that Prof. No need to have that kind of talk in class. Teachers, people in authority have to understand that whatever they say could influence their students or people under them. If they perpetuate bigotry then they must go.
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This is a great post! I actually experienced something like this the other day in class, only it was a student. She pretty much implied that parents raise gay kids, and the professor shot her down, telling her that all major research indicates that sexuality is biologically predetermined. It’s a shame that apparently not all professors are like mine.
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