PFLAG Decries Honorary Doctorate for Schlafly

Gay rights advocates are asking Washington University administrators to reconsider honoring antigay activist Phyllis Schlafly with an honorary doctorate at the school's commencement ceremony. Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, along with many students and faculty, is urging the school not to honor Schlafly at the May 16 ceremony in St. Louis.

"Phyllis Schlafly has spent much of her life on a crusade to roll back opportunities for millions of people, including many of the students at Washington University," Dean L. Rosen, president of PFLAG's St. Louis chapter, said in a statement on Thursday. "She has consistently opposed full equality for women and for gays and lesbians and has pushed her anti-equality agenda in our schools and our state houses. As parents and allies of GLBT young people, we are alarmed that Washington University would honor someone who has such a long track record of attacking our children."

Despite having a gay son, Schlafly, founder of the "pro-family" Eagle Forum, has been a longtime opponent of LGBT rights and feminism. The Washington University alumna has also attacked public schools for allowing affirmative portrayals of LGBT people in curricula.

Students and faculty have not asked university officials to disinvite Schlafly from speaking at the ceremony; they simply disagree with her receiving an honorary degree. As of Thursday, more than 2,000 members had joined a Facebook.com group opposing Schlafly's doctorate.

Mary Ann Dzuback, director of the women's and gender studies department at WU, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch it would be "grossly inappropriate" for Washington University to honor Schlafly with a degree.

The school said in a statement on Tuesday that Schlafly was chosen because it honors people "who have become a part of the broad public discourse on vital issues of the times -- whether or not the majority of those within its community agree with the views expressed by those individuals." The statement continues to list past honorees, "including civil rights leaders Jesse Jackson and Julian Bond; political leaders as diverse as Madeleine Albright, John Major, Patricia Schroeder, John C. Danforth, Paul Simon, and Richard Gephardt; educational leaders such as Ruth Simmons and Henry Louis Gates; and members of the media including Tom Friedman, George Will, Tim Russert, and this year's commencement speaker, Chris Matthews." (The Advocate)