Though conservatives love to accuse academia at large—and especially professors—of using college as an opportunity to push “woke” agendas onto students, the sad reality is that there are plenty of people in higher education who actually espouse archaic, dangerous views and ideas. And sure, some of those folks are at religious institutions, but they’re also at public schools. And their ideas don’t exist in a vacuum, either; think about how much implicit bias and microaggressions can impact a student’s grades, evaluations, or letters of recommendation, for example.
With all of this context in mind, we can consider a recent story out of the University of Texas at Dallas, as covered by local outlet My San Antonio. Computer science professor Timothy Farage fired off a tweet in which he expressed a desire to find a “cure” for “homosexuality, especially among men?” This little thought experiment of his was attached to a link for a story about monkeypox. (Side note: My colleague, Mark Sumner, has a great deep-dive on monkeypox you can check out here.)
Farage’s Twitter account appears to no longer be active (though it’s unclear whether it was banned or deleted), but screenshots have since gone viral. The school says it is investigating complaints about Farage, especially as he has doubled down after being called out for his horrifying message.
RELATED STORY: School board candidate says physicians who provide gender-affirming health care should be hanged
First, here are those screenshots.
Farage, who has taught at the university for about two decades, spoke to the student-run newspaper The Mercury and basically dug his heels into the ground. Farage insisted to the paper that he isn’t “hateful or bigoted or homophobic or racist,” which is … certainly an approach one can take in this sort of situation.
He went on to tell the paper that he does not think “consensual homosexual sex is a sin,” and that he hasn’t said “one word” about “homosexuals” being “bad people.” The 71-year-old then told the paper he knew several people who didn’t want to be gay.
“If somebody doesn’t want to be,” he said, per The Dallas Morning News. “Why not try to find a way to help them do that? My comment was to try to be helpful and compassionate … I never said a word against homosexuals or transgender individuals or anything.”
Farage also went on to say he thinks being gay is a “medical disorder” that requires more research. He went on to add that gay men can’t have their “own” biological children.
Lovely!
The school tweeted an official statement clarifying they are aware of Farage’s tweets and that they do not represent the school’s views.
Would love to hear what openly queer students who had Farage in the classroom have to say.
You can watch a snippet of Farage’s interview with WFAA below.
YouTube Video
With all of this context in mind, we can consider a recent story out of the University of Texas at Dallas, as covered by local outlet My San Antonio. Computer science professor Timothy Farage fired off a tweet in which he expressed a desire to find a “cure” for “homosexuality, especially among men?” This little thought experiment of his was attached to a link for a story about monkeypox. (Side note: My colleague, Mark Sumner, has a great deep-dive on monkeypox you can check out here.)
Farage’s Twitter account appears to no longer be active (though it’s unclear whether it was banned or deleted), but screenshots have since gone viral. The school says it is investigating complaints about Farage, especially as he has doubled down after being called out for his horrifying message.
RELATED STORY: School board candidate says physicians who provide gender-affirming health care should be hanged
First, here are those screenshots.
Farage, who has taught at the university for about two decades, spoke to the student-run newspaper The Mercury and basically dug his heels into the ground. Farage insisted to the paper that he isn’t “hateful or bigoted or homophobic or racist,” which is … certainly an approach one can take in this sort of situation.
He went on to tell the paper that he does not think “consensual homosexual sex is a sin,” and that he hasn’t said “one word” about “homosexuals” being “bad people.” The 71-year-old then told the paper he knew several people who didn’t want to be gay.
“If somebody doesn’t want to be,” he said, per The Dallas Morning News. “Why not try to find a way to help them do that? My comment was to try to be helpful and compassionate … I never said a word against homosexuals or transgender individuals or anything.”
Farage also went on to say he thinks being gay is a “medical disorder” that requires more research. He went on to add that gay men can’t have their “own” biological children.
Lovely!
The school tweeted an official statement clarifying they are aware of Farage’s tweets and that they do not represent the school’s views.
Would love to hear what openly queer students who had Farage in the classroom have to say.
You can watch a snippet of Farage’s interview with WFAA below.
YouTube Video