Jeff Landry presses university to drop lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender courses
Published: Friday, August 24, 2012, 9:51 PM     Updated: Saturday, August 25, 2012, 12:05 AM
Bruce Alpert, Times-Picayune

http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/08/landry_presses_university_to_d.html

WASHINGTON - Rep. Jeff Landry, R-New Iberia, is continuing his efforts to get the University of Louisiana at Lafayette to drop its lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender studies major on grounds it isn't consistent with the college's mission to prepare young people for jobs.

"I want our young people prepared for workforce and the LGBT minor does not assist them toward that goal," Landry said in a letter to the university's president, Joseph Savoie. "Our neighbors and students should trust that the education dollars they spent at University of Louisiana at Lafayette will be used to further their careers, not a political agenda."

[...]

"Educating students on the lives and history of LGBT people is anything but political," said Charles Joughin, spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign. "Congressman Landry may refuse to acknowledge the existence and struggle of our community, but that's no reason to deny others who wish to learn a chance to do so."

I replied to the article on nola.com. Mr. Landry is one of those folk who defines people (it seems) by being a commodity. Jobs are important but there's more to life than just a job. I wonder if he knows that. 

Mr. Landry is short sighted and not helping prepare the students for the real world.

@gennee, good for you and well said. ♥u

Jamie

I agree with Landry and think that universities should be preparing these 'young adults' to make better mousetraps to make the world beat a path to their doors rather than wasting time studying irrelevant BTGL matters.

Politicians in the south continuously show their stupidity. However since the people voted for them, it's a collective stupidity. I would feel ashamed that I live in Texas except it seems pretty civilized here compared to some of those other tea states. At least here in north Texas and Houston/Austin.

Quote from: lilacwoman on August 25, 2012, 01:16:40 PM
I agree with Landry and think that universities should be preparing these 'young adults' to make better mousetraps to make the world beat a path to their doors rather than wasting time studying irrelevant BTGL matters.

I think that a student who majored in social work with a minor in LGBT studies could find some excellent job opportunities serving this community.

Z

Quote from: lilacwoman on August 25, 2012, 01:16:40 PM
I agree with Landry and think that universities should be preparing these 'young adults' to make better mousetraps to make the world beat a path to their doors rather than wasting time studying irrelevant BTGL matters.

If we come up with ways to help gender-variant people accept themselves, wouldn't that classify as a "better mousetrap"?

America needs better mousetraps to pay its way.

Quote from: lilacwoman on August 26, 2012, 12:47:42 PM
America needs better mousetraps to pay its way.

We've outsourced their manufacture to China.

  Another one who want workers and not thinkers. 
  Joelene

  "I cannot trust a man to control others who cannot control himself."  Robert E Lee

Hey Snowpaw - we Texans love it when  LA, AR, MS act stupid and backwards like this - it allows us feel superior to at least some states!!!

Quote from: henrytwob on August 26, 2012, 09:45:33 PM
Hey Snowpaw - we Texans love it when  LA, AR, MS act stupid and backwards like this - it allows us feel superior to at least some states!!!

Heck yea. It's nice to some areas of Texas really progressing. Still it's really sad to see other states regressing.

Hmm, from the university's web site, I see they offer coursework in many sports, art, music appreciation, visual arts, health, history, exercise, and environmental geology. Just try and get a job by taking just one of those classes. Some people are truly ignorant.

Quote from: Cindi Jones on August 26, 2012, 10:58:04 PM
Hmm, from the university's web site, I see they offer coursework in many sports, art, music appreciation, visual arts, health, history, exercise, and environmental geology. Just try and get a job by taking just one of those classes. Some people are truly ignorant.

Cindy,
  I've seen those majors on the wait staff at Chili's the past two decades!  Geez, LA is is as backward as advertised.  Sheesh!
  Joelene

These kinds of degrees are more and more common in larger North American cities (in fact, it's my current major). Especially since many places are starting to realise that there's very little support for queer and trans people living in particularly vulnerable circumstances, coming from such a background is becoming more and more of an asset. Not to mention the number of workplaces looking or needing to change their policies to accommodate a diversity of people.

Plus given the extent to which injustice continues to exist against the queer/trans communities, it's about time we find different ways to make changes. Women's Studies has done a lot in this respect and queer theory in some respects follows the same model. This guy is a douchebag who shouldn't be among those making decisions concerning other people's futures.

Quote from: Cindi Jones on August 26, 2012, 10:58:04 PM
Hmm, from the university's web site, I see they offer coursework in many sports, art, music appreciation, visual arts, health, history, exercise, and environmental geology. Just try and get a job by taking just one of those classes. Some people are truly ignorant.

Speaking from a humanities academia perspective, just wait. It's a matter of time.

Anyone who cheers this on under the notion that it's cutting out a useless major in order to make room for "productive" work needs to appreciate that subjects like history, philosophy, sociology, religious studies, literature, and so on are experiencing exactly the same pressures, for exactly the same stated reasons, and are unable to put up a fight. It's less obvious in America because the universities are well-endowed. In Australia and the UK, you can hear the death-rattles the moment you walk onto the humanities side of campus.

Gender studies classes should be defended to the death. Period. There is no valid reason to cut them - they are neither more nor less "useful" than any other humanities or social science degree, because university majors quite frankly don't work that way; once you reach the stage of research higher degrees, you're not "locked in" to anything. No valid reason unless, that is, you believe that nobody should take a BA, that the humanities and social sciences are irrelevant, and there is no practical value to the theoretical study of human culture and activity. In which case you have an entirely different argument on your hands.