News | Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh City Paper: Last year, the Department of Women and Gender Studies (WGS) and the Gender Forum group at Duquesne University held its first-ever gender-neutral fashion show. The event was promoted with a flyer featuring a male-presenting model wearing a dress and knee-high boots; according to the Duquesne Duke, the student newspaper, a WGS professor said the 2018 event was the best-attended WGS event she had seen.
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This article is upsetting. What’s even more upsetting to me is that this is happening in a city as culturally diverse as Pittsburgh. With an erupting arts scene and notable schools in the performing arts (which are open and accepting communities), I would hope that the city at large is a macrocosm. Duquesne censoring the language and content of the gender neutral fashion show is a violation of the first amendment, which presents the university in a hypocritical situation. The kicker of the article is that during Duquesne’s conference last year examining the first amendment, no justification through Catholicism was expressed, but suddenly the values of the religion were put in place to justify the censorship. In this day and age, I would hope that we could put old rules/values aside for the sake of humanity and evolve alongside our communities. Coming from Memphis, the discussion of gender was always very traditional, but I’ve always been open to evolving as I am exposed to more and I would hope other communities (and universities like Duquesne) would do the same.
Though I wasn’t surprised to read that Duquesne is a private Catholic school, I didn’t know that before seeing this headline that Duquesne University is a Catholic school so it is less surprising that the university said what it said. It is sad to see another Catholic institution be the conservative stereotype that it projects in the news but alas some things will never change. I am not saying that religion should be an excuse for discrimination but in America right now we do walk a fine line between separation of church and state as well as private and public institutions. What I do find surprising about this article is that first off Duquesne University allowed this to happen in the first place and second off that there were no problems with it in the first place but then the second time around it was not allowed. I am always perplexed by the ever-changing institutional policies that large organizations put in place. Just today in Stage Management Seminar, we were talking about how a rule changed from over the summer until now in regards to the hiring process. I wonder if any policies changed at Duquesne University that made the University say that the gender-neutral fashion show couldn’t use gender-neutral promotional language. It sucks that this happened but overall, unsurprising.
This is upsetting to me. It does not make sense that Duquesne University would allow the event one year, then request the changes of not using gender neutral language the next time they try and put the event on. Is that not the point of the fashion show? I personally find there is a fine line between freedom of speech. Sure, Duquesne University is private, so it has its own rules. However, the claim they make about respecting the “Catholic religious identity of the institution” while disrespecting their own students is egregious. I grew up Catholic, so this sort of behavior is something I saw a lot of growing up. This “respect my belief” but at the same time disrespecting others in the name of your belief is all too present in the Catholic Church. I hope the students at Duquesne University push back and they succeed in using the language they want for the event.
This is not only very upsetting, but also very confusing. If, as a school, you don't want gender-neutral language used, why allow a gender-neutral fashion show? Obviously, I would disagree with them not allowing the fashion show, but I don't understand where they're drawing the line. I also grew up Catholic, so I'm not shocked by this behavior. I went to a Catholic elementary school and we weren't allowed to do like anything. But, I do feel really hopeful because the students seem to be talking about this! The fact that the story was reported by the Duquesne Duke is really important! However the majority of the students feel about this, they're having a conversation, which is so important! I'm sure that before this, there hasn't been much conversation about gender at Duquesne, so I think for many students this will be a learning experience and bring important conversations to the forefront! I hope that the school learns that it's unacceptable to exclude trans and gender non-conforming students like this and that they should take every opportunity that they can to be inclusive.
I grew up catholic. I was destined for the priesthood. My parents used to say my brother was born for the secular world and I for the sacred. I worked for the Catholic church for many years in some form or another. I know the Catechism quite well. I also know Canon Law and I also know that Duquesne University is going to promote Catholic teaching, dogma, and theology. It doesn't surprise me that the university acted this way the second time around. It may be less clear to most as to why. The article does mention that a number of complaints were filed after the first show and that the university didn’t want to deal with them again. They opted for a compromise, have the show, but don’t use gender neutral language on the advertisements. The university is controlling the message. They want to ensure that people who see these posters do not think that Duquesne University is going against established Catholic teaching. As a private religious school, they are not bound to the First Amendment protections that students at a state run public school are. The First Amendment only applies to government sponsored actions, which also leads to the curiosity as to why they held a first amendment forum in the first place but that is a debate for another time. While it doesn’t seem fair or right, it is the position of the university. We may not agree with it but if, as a private Catholic university, they want to make this rule, we have to respect their decision. Respecting others means just that. We may not agree with their stance or opinion and they may even be wrong, but they are entitled to respect.
I find it frankly ridiculous that it is so hard for people to use gender neutral pronouns in society. It’s understandable that religion make those beliefs conflicted, but being able to at least respect the wishes of certain individuals should not be so much of a struggle. The fashion show is promoting inclusivity, yet ironically its promotion is not even allowed to do so. It does seem silly as well that Duquesne University says it would like to put the wishes of its students first, yet it is punishing one group while meeting the demands of the other. It’s unfair and feels like a step back to the progress that has been made in pronoun usage. Universities have gotten better at asking for student pronouns and creating gender neutral bathrooms. However, this article shows we still have a long way to go before our society reaches true inclusivity for all.
As stated by Josh, the right to free speech does not extend to private or private religious schools. A school may prohibit or limit language that is deemed undesirable, inappropriate, or against the express mission of the school. It really does not seem fair. It also does not seem reasonable, because it is a right listed in the Constitution, which by virtue should encompass any and all who live in this country. And yet, an argument of the separation of church and state can also be made to defend Duquesne's decision to censor their students, though I certainly am not in agreement with it. There is an argument to made from this technical standpoint but from a moral perspective, this censorship is not something that paints Duquesne in a favorable light. Gender neutrality/nonbinary expression has existed long before and was heavily suppressed by Western religion, so Duquesne's censorship is not only anti-gender neutral language but also stems from heavy racism.
Though I will admit that in going to an openly Catholic private institution, one should go into any artistic project discussing gender, sexuality, etc. expecting some level of pushback, this seems like another occurrence of people using religion as a conduit for their personal beliefs. I get easily upset when I hear about people using Catholicism or the Bible to justify discriminatory biases because, similarly to Josh and many others, I grew up religious and though I don't consider myself to be Catholic at this point in time, I still care deeply that the name of Catholicism is not tarnished by hate. The quote in this article I take particular issue with is the comment that the university is requesting that "promotional materials are not designed in a fashion that will unnecessarily offend others" because though the university is a Catholic institution, there are beliefs of the church that are advertised often that could be said to "unnecessarily offend" people of various groups and demographics. Overall, I think that religion should be a private matter that is not used in social issues and people need to respect that not everyone around them is held to uphold the same opinions.
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