Middlebury students returned from spring break to find the hallways of Ross Commons littered with homophobic graffiti. 

From the Middlebury Campus: 

MOQA Co-President Nick Ballen '09, in an interview last Tuesday, described the graffiti as directed at specific individuals, mentioning names along with words and images.

"The campus, in general, is pretty accepting - but there are underlying things that don't come up," said Ballen, on whether the incident was related to a larger sentiment across campus. "Sometimes that is harder for an organization to deal with. These incidents are 'isolated' but 'not' because there are smaller versions [of the graffiti] everywhere. This sort of incident reminds us to pay attention to such things around campus, because when we ignore the little things, something big like this happens." 

The school has responded: with two open meetings—April 3 and tomorrow—and Middlebury’s Queer Alliance has been determined to bring up a necessary—if uncomfortable—dialogue at Middlebury.

Sage Bierster, in an opinion piece for the Middlebury Campus, calls for us all to stop unintentionally fostering discrimination by using certain, still commonly used words:

"Fag, slut, dyke, prude." Why is it that insulting someone's sex life is an acceptable form of discrimination? Whether it's who you like, who you sleep with, how often and with how many people, if you're gay, straight or somewhere in between, many of us use these and other derogatory insults because sexuality is seen as one part of human behavior that it is ok to judge someone for.

The homophobic graffiti that was found written in Ross a few weeks ago has prompted a campus-wide debate regarding undercurrents of discrimination and hate that have often gone unnoticed by most of the College community. The Middlebury Open Queer Alliance (MOQA), for one, has done an excellent job of opening the discussion up to larger questions of sexuality. This isn't just about homophobia, but is about a larger trend in American society that wants to restrict and control you based on sexuality. And we participate in it every day. For example: Think of all the times you have ever described any girl as a "slut"? Maybe you weren't even referencing her sexual activities but expressing a negative feeling towards her, yet you still used that word. "Slut" still carries the meaning of being promiscuous, but it is used in everyday speech to mean a woman who isn't liked, who offends or is unacceptable in some way. When it is used it not only reaffirms the negative connotation of that word but also of female sexuality in general. Why is it a bad thing when a woman has numerous sexual partners? Why do we pick her sex life (real or imagined) to use against her?

Now think about the word "gay". How often do you say, "That party was gay," or "Stop being gay," or "What a gay thing to say"? My own brother uses it and it angers me to no end. He claims that it is just something people say, that he doesn't "mean it like that." Yet when anyone, including my open-minded brother, uses "gay" to deride even inanimate objects, something is amiss. His response shows how na've we all are when it comes to the power of words. As my friend Kelsey said to me when reflecting upon the responses she has heard from people about the incident in Ross, the majority of us might not realize the meaning of these words. If you have never experienced the pain of being called a "faggot" when someone really meant it, the shock to find that any homophobic word written on the walls of this campus might not reach you. So I ask you to think about a time when you or a close friend was judged because of sexual behavior or merely called a name that carried that kind of connotation. Think about everything you felt. Imagine if it had been written on a wall in your dorm. Now think about a time you did the same thing to someone else. 

Is this the most important first step to take in combating instances of discrimination?