Hundreds of University of Washington students gathered on Saturday to protest an anti-gay-marriage column published in the school’s student newspaper on November 25, the Daily reports. The opinion piece, titled, “Gay marriage? Lets stop and think about this,” described homosexuality as “more of an emotional condition” and argued that legalizing gay marriage would lead to a slippery slope of legal polygamy, incest, and bestiality. An illustration featuring a man standing next to a sheep accompanied the piece.

Several student groups, such as the graduate student government, have called for an apology and even for the newspaper’s editorial board’s resignation.

 See Washington Students Protest Anti-Gay-Marriage Column
U.S. News & World Report

About 200 people attended a rally Friday at the University of Washington to protest an anti-gay marriage column that ran in the student newspaper, The Daily.

Protesters say language in the column, including a reference to bestiality, coupled with the accompanying image of a man standing next to a sheep, amounted to hate speech. But speakers differed on whether the paper should be censured.

Ana Mari Cauce, the UW’s dean of arts and sciences, talked about her own struggles coming out as a lesbian and the hurt she felt in reading the column.

“But the antidote to free speech is more free speech,” she said. “I am thankful that I am living in a country where everyone has the right to express their opinions.”

On the other hand, the Graduate and Professional Student Senate (GPSS) this week passed a resolution demanding the paper apologize.

However, the editor-in-chief of The Daily, Sarah Jeglum, said this week she stands behind the decision to run the column and isn’t planning any sort of apology. In a Friday column, Jeglum said she’d learned “Free speech is for everyone. It’s not just for the majority, and it’s not just for the minority.”

That difference of opinion, if not resolved, could lead to a showdown between the editors of the paper and the elected student-body representatives who sit on the publications board which oversees The Daily.

See Hundreds rally at UW against anti-gay marriage column in campus …
Seattle Times -