Kansas Legislator Makes Anti-Gay Request: Kansas Rainbow Listserv Members Take Action Across the State
by Deb Taylor

During the week of February 20, 1998, officials from the major Kansas universities were asked to supply a list of all courses being offered this semester that contain material directly related to the subject of homosexuality or bisexuality. Universities were being given less than one week to comply with the request, which originated from an anonymous Kansas legislator (legislators can request this type of info; the Kansas Board of Regents send the request to the universities).

A KSU professor posted this information to the Kansas Rainbow Listserv (KR-L) on Sunday, February 22. KR-L is the Kansas-wide listserv that reports and discusses issues and events relevant to gays, lesbians, and bisexuals. Within hours, KR-L subscribers from other Kansas universities reported that their administrators had also received the request. Many shared letters that they intended to send to their university officials; others posted faculty responses to what became known on KR-L as "The Memo."

Mike Silverman of Lawrence created a very informational web page on what he termed "The Witch Hunt." The web site can still be viewed at http://www.turnleft.com/witchhunt/. KU graduate student Chris Robinson and others gathered and passed information on to the press. As a result, all of the major Kansas newspapers picked up the story, as did the major lesbigay presses. The Chronicle of Higher Education, a very prestigious higher education magazine, also ran a story on "The Memo."

In the end, only Fort Hayes State refused to respond to the request. Other universities ran elementary name searches (i.e. "bisexuality," "homosexuality") and came up with only a handful of course listings. The request prompted Jim Hamilton (KSU Philosophy Department Head) to wryly note that most courses in disciplines such as sociology and philosophy could fall into the category of including lesbigay content (see Hamilton's article).

To this day, no one knows why the requst was made and the "mystery legislator" has not come forward. Kansas Goverrnor Bill Graves called the request "stupid." Kansas Senate President Dick Bond said the request indicates to him that some legislators need more to do. Speculators feel this incident mirrors a similar request in Iowa, where an attempt was made to add an appropriations bill saying that universities that taught homosexuality could be denied funding.

For now, the request had produced only a flurry of articles and a lot of denials from the Kansas Legislature. Most important, however, is the fact that the issue became an issue because of the fast networking of lesbigays and our allies all across Kansas. From this request-and our ensuing prompt action-Kansas officials, from the government to the universities, realized that issues which deal with homosexuality and bisexuality will not result in quiet compliance.

  Back to FHO March 98 Home Page