Emory University Withdraws Funding for Black Conservative Speaker Due to Her So-Called “Anti-Homosexual” Views, But Anti-White and Anti-Semitic Speakers Welcome – October 1996

Despite an almost unanimous vote by the Emory College Council to pay honorarium to Project 21 member and black conservative Star Parker for a speech, Emory University’s College Council President has vetoed expenditure of the funds, claiming that Ms. Parker is prejudiced against homosexuals. Parker denies the allegations, adding that her speech was to be on her experience as a black conservative and her views about the welfare state and urban affairs, not on gay issues. College Council President Tyson Lomazow says the allegation against Parker was made by the liberal Gay and Lesbian Association Against Defamation (GLAAD).

Emory’s sensitivity in the Parker case stands stark contrast to its actions in cases where Jews, white Americans, Catholics or Americans with traditional moral values might be offended. Last year, when the Emory Student Government Association paid $2,000 to fund part of well-known anti-Semite and anti-white Steven Cokely’s speech, the College Council President — who finds Mrs. Parker too hateful — said, “I think his (Cokely’s) appearance will benefit the community.” Emory University is hosting Jocelyn Elders on October 16 despite her previous comment as Surgeon General that “The Catholic Church has to get over its love affair with the fetus.” It has also invited National Organization for Women President Patricia Ireland, who recently revealed she has a girlfriend in addition to her husband.

Project 21 member Star Parker says the real reason for the veto of $1,700 to pay half of her honorarium is due to liberal intolerance of free speech: “Campus liberals are afraid to give students the chance to hear conservative views, but when the views are expressed by black conservatives like me, they go ballistic. They are paralyzed with fear when it comes to black conservatives because it goes against one of their most sacred beliefs that all blacks must be on the left of the political spectrum. That’s clearly prejudice.”

The allegations against Star Parker by GLAAD are based on Mrs. Parker’s conduct as a former talk show host for KMPC-AM in Los Angeles, California. GLAAD claims their office in Los Angeles received more complaints about Mrs. Parker than anyone else. Star Parker says her opposition to same-sex marriage and gay adoption, not intolerant or hateful comments about homosexuals, is what has GLAAD upset.

The Young America’s Foundation, a co-sponsor of the Parker speech along with the College Republicans of Emory University, sent a letter to trustees of Emory requesting they contact University President William Chace to request funds be found in his discretionary budget as a sign of Emory’s commitment to free speech. Young America’s previous attempts to influence President Chace were unsuccessful.

Star Parker is a former welfare mother who put herself through college and started her own publishing company. A Christian conservative activist, she is now President of the Los Angeles-based Coalition on Urban Affairs. Most recently, she spoke at the Republican National Convention in San Diego. She has appeared on “Larry King Live,” “Nightline,” and “The Oprah Winfrey Show.”

For an interview with Star Parker, contact Arturo Silva of Project 21 at (202) 507-6398.

###



The National Center for Public Policy Research is a communications and research foundation supportive of a strong national defense and dedicated to providing free market solutions to today’s public policy problems. We believe that the principles of a free market, individual liberty and personal responsibility provide the greatest hope for meeting the challenges facing America in the 21st century.