What are the positive benefits of adopting a sexual orientation clause?
The most direct benefit is to allow the substantial number of gay men and lesbians in the Missouri State system to lead without fear open and honest lives. In sharp contrast to the present situation, they would have a written policy to challenge discrimination. This is important since gay people comprise five to ten percent of the population, which means that, at minimum, over a thousand people in our system will directly benefit from this change. A second benefit: The various nondiscrimination policies of our University will become consistent. At present, a number of organizations and departments at Missouri State have sexual orientation nondiscrimination policies, including the Student Government Association, the School of Social Work, and Residence Life. To create consistency, the University can either order these units to change their nondiscrimination policies by deleting their sexual orientation clauses, or the University can change its own policy. The latter is clearly the prefe
