A high ranking official in the Young Democrats has addressed me, by name, in a “highly public mannor” by writting a response letter to my letter to the editor over the weekend. Below is his letter and my response to his personal message meant for my eyes specifically.
TO THE EDITOR:
As an officer of Young Democrats, an early supporter of “Prop 8: The Musical” and a Christian, I am discouraged to hear that some of the audience — particularly Justin Crowder in his letter to the editor left our performance with a bad taste in their mouths.
It was unfortunate that he chose to write a highly public letter to The Daily Tar Heel, rather than answering our verbal call to dialogue once the performance was finished.
Here’s the thing, Mr. Crowder — in the state of North Carolina, marriage between members of the same sex is not legally recognized, yet a sizable portion of our campus is comprised of LGBTQ students.
Once graduated from UNC, our homosexual peers will be denied the rights that you and I will enjoy if we decide to get married.
Our performance of the musical, while lighthearted in nature, intended to provoke dialogue within the free-speech zone of the Pit. Christians, me included, struggle daily to balance the words of the Bible, the thematic teachings of Jesus Christ and the moral consciousness of our spiritual lives to take a position on homosexual rights.
The musical was not designed to repudiate religious students; it was designed to ask all people whether the writings of Paul the Apostle in the New Testament trump our potential as loving human beings to allow gay Americans to live the same lives that we do.
I suggest that the readers of the DTH check out our show on Friday, or the original video at http://www.funnyordie.com and recognize that our performance meant no harm.
Dear Young Democrats,
I am thrilled to see the Young Dems respond in such a fashion as to address me by name. I was unaware that there were “free-speech” zones until recently and I sure hope the DTH’s website is one for below I offer a response to a letter so clearly addressed to me.
I could not participate in your dialogue thingy because I had class, unfortunately. However, I am sure that Russell did a fine job moderating although I cannot conceive that there was a productive outcome. It is very clear that you put your party and radical ideology above the absolute morality of “the thematic teachings of Jesus Christ.” Wouldn’t it be easier to reject the Bible than play this game of “picking and choosing”? (ouch)
And, just for the record, I attempted to contact you folks for an interview about the play and you never got back to me. Lastly, I too suggest people see the play in order that they may attempt to fathom your organization’s sense of humor. If the same good humor was shown to the homosexual special interest group I don’t think it would be met with such hilarity by your circles.
Thanks for considering my thoughts on the subject and I hope to see you folks around as many of my friends are members of the YD’s. . . or at leat they were. . .
-Justin Crowder
All in good fun. . . at least I am having fun