I'd like to respond to Jordan Carpenter's letter as printed in The Daily Tar Heel on April 26.
There is a contradiction in his argument. He criticizes Linda Chupkowski for "not categorizing herself, a cop-out if I ever heard one" and then goes on to claim that "It may make (Chupkowski and columnist Cameron Mitchell) feel better to think of homosexuality as a political or social issue rather than a simple matter of who one is attracted to."
As a friend of both Linda and her partner, I assure you her decision is not a cop-out but a political statement. Queer politics holds that labeling people automatically separates them out as different. It attempts to make one's sexual orientation as arbitrary and socially meaningless as ones preference for ice cream.
But, as Jordan pointed out, categorizing sexuality is a part of American society. We categorize people into neat little identities. That way, it's easier to stigmatize these people. I admire Linda because she has not copped out of belonging to an identity that is subjected to these oppressions.
"To put it bluntly, (Mitchell and Chupkowski) are not helping. How long will people blather about homosexuality without saying anything new?" I imagine homosexual "blather" will end when the community is granted equal human dignity in the legal, political, and social realms of culture. I commend Mitchell and Chupkowski for making us question the need for stigma and labels. Unfortunately, I believe that their thinking is ahead of its time.
Sarah Bolen
Junior
Political Science
