A point of clarification on Jordan Rash's letter complaining that campus apartments are not coed and assuming that gay and lesbian partners have some special privilege of living together, "Trustees need to allow coed living" (SN 2/9). No such rule exists. In fact, if you are an undergraduate student, there is no formal way for the university to recognize a committed gay or lesbian relationship, and only a few opportunities exist if you're a graduate student (not living in the residence halls) or faculty or staff member.

Unlike heterosexual couples, who can be married at the county clerk's office and move in together tomorrow, having a domestic partnership recognized by the university requires completion of a series of eight criteria such as co-habitation for at least six months, joint responsibilities for the necessities of life and, most importantly, that partners are same-sex and unable to marry because of Michigan law for this reason.

The next time Jordan Rash would like to show how easy the LBGT community has it, I think it'd be important to remember the millions of qualified LBGT people fired from their jobs because of the bias of an employer and no anti-discrimination protection. Transgender people continue to have one of the highest rates of unemployment in the country and lack adequate safegaurds, even here at MSU, from discrimination because the Board of Trustees and President Lou Anna Simon fail to act.

Finally, exit poll data from the November elections shows 60 percent of Michigan voters support civil unions and assumed Proposal 2 would only ban "gay marriage." I didn't hear much about unmarried heterosexual couples living together, but I'm going to bet when people talk of traditional values and marriage they don't mean "living in sin."

Jon Hoadley
women's studies and social relations senior