UT Administrator Doesn't Think Before She Speaks....

University of Toledo Administrator Doesn't Think Before She Speaks....
(Click above to goto news article, and read the story, as well as Mrs. Dixon's actual response...)

TOLEDO -- A University of Toledo administrator is on paid leave because of an article she wrote for Toledo Free Press in April, reports News 11's Shelley Brown.

Crystal Dixon, UT's associate vice president of human resources, had responded to a column about the gay rights struggle, saying "As a Black woman ... I take great umbrage at the notion that those choosing the homosexual lifestyle are civil rights victims. I cannot wake up tomorrow and not be a Black woman. Daily thousands of homosexuals make a life decision to leave the gay lifestyle."

Equality Toledo, a local gay rights organization, is calling Dixon's comments outrageous.

"The problem for me is that this is somebody that is charge of a major department of a major institution," says Rob Salem, UT clinical law professor and board member of Equality Toledo. "She talks about .... homosexuality being a choice. And those views are refuted by the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association."

A UT spokesperson says Dixon is now on paid administrative leave and that it would be inappropriate to comment on an "ongoing personnel matter."

In the article, Dixon also addresses her religious beliefs, saying there are consequences for those who violate God's divine order.

Salem says he agrees with freedom of speech and religion but that Dixon, a top administrator, has crossed the line. Equality Toledo is urging people to call and write UT to express their opinions.

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My Take:

From an academic perspective, I am challenged how information that is readily available, seems to always miss the conversations and arguments of some "educators". When the APA removed homosexuality from its list of disorders in the DSM series, it would appear that many people didn't get the memo.

From an cultural and social perspective, I feel this administrator and her article are EXACTLY the kind of divisive and counterproductive pillars that have existed and continue to exists in this country. I look at this as a position of arrogance, more so than (but not excluding) ignorance, for her to feel that a person would have to defend their right to be to her or anyone else. Why on God's green earth is she quoting biblical scriptures, literally mind you (and as an Educator myself of various disciplines, I have serious issues with that alone!), and with such conviction, as if her beliefs are the only ones' that matter in this land of the free and home of the brave.

The continued shameless plugs of "choice" and religious oppression are the arms and legs of this machine that perpetuates said divisiveness and ignorance.

I hope and pray that as a professional, she learns and understands REALLY quickly, that your religious views and ideologies SHOULD NOT become a weapon of assault or battery on the lives and well-being of anyone, including GLBTQ folks. I will NOT stand for it.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote: "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly."- Letter from Birmingham Jail. 16 Apr. 1963.