In June 1788, a document was ratified and a country was born. Its authority: “To form a more perfect Union.” Not a perfect Union, but a more perfect Union. What our Founding Fathers understood was that perfectionism is a goal, but one rarely entirely accomplished. And that diversity — “we the people,” not we the men or we the heterosexuals — exists and will only expand. The United States that they inhabited, and the one we have inherited today — neither were perfect, but we can get there. 

In today’s United States, people are taking it upon themselves to help with that whole “forming a more perfect Union” business. 

In early April, Texas A&M University Student Senate approved a measure allowing students to opt out of funding the university’s GLBT center — if they have religious objections. Around the same time, State Rep. Bill Zedler of Texas withdrew a budget amendment that would essentially cut any state funding to university LGBT centers. 

Now, I see where Texas A&M is coming from. Why would a heterosexual student need resources offered by campus LGBT centers? Well, they really don’t. It’s unfair to have students paying for services they likely will never utilize. But what about students that have no interest in the fine arts? Can they opt out of funding campus performance centers? And what about students that will never attend a university sports game. Can they opt out of funding sports complexes? 

That’s where Texas A&M lost me. Because if students can opt out of funding the GLBT center, then LGBT students can opt out of funding the facilities they don’t use. 

Decisions affecting LGBT students are being made by the entire student body — after all, it is a democracy. But it’s difficult to imagine that the ability to cut off funding to a center that is probably the only resource to LGBT students lies within the hands of 35 heterosexual individuals. 

Those individuals supporting the university’s anti-gay measure have likely never stepped foot in the GLBT resource center, let alone have any insight as to its purpose and intent: diversity. And the center’s website even devotes the majority of the page to commitment to diversity — not explicitly to LGBT students, but to everyone including those 35 student senators. That’s a desired byproduct of a democracy: inclusion.

Only a few days later and 90 minutes southeast, University of Houston-Downtown junior Kristopher Sharp decided to run for student body vice president. That is until fliers were posted around the school reading, “Want AIDS? Don’t Support the Isaac and Kris Homosexual Agenda,” in reference to Sharp being openly HIV-positive.

But just as it took only seven people — seven of our Founding Fathers — to create the law of the land and birth a nation, it takes only one to uphold the law and preserve it. When the Texas A&M Student Senate approved the measure, it moved on to Student Body President John L. Claybrook. His pen could spell out one of two words: veto or pass. Or more plainly: equality or covert discrimination.

And when Sharp saw one of those fliers with an “x” crossed over his picture and on the back, his medical files confirming his HIV status, he was simply shocked. 

Claybrook vetoed the measure. Sharp didn’t want to press charges; he just wanted an apology. 

What Claybrook proved is that one voice is stronger than that of 35. That he, like our Founding Fathers, strive to make this a more perfect Union. To make the school he represents a more perfect university. 

What Sharp proved is that he can be tolerant of intolerance. That he, like our Founding Fathers, strive for liberty and justice — for all. For the students that he hoped to serve as vice president under and even for the students who tried to take that opportunity away from him.   

The perfect Union is not one in which students take away the resources of other students — especially resources that are essential for maintaining the well-being of a particular student population. The perfect Union is not one in which students take others’ faults and publicize them because it promotes their agenda.  

The perfect Union is a path, a walkway, and we know the terminal destination, but we can’t quite see how to arrive there.

Adam is a junior in ACES. He can be reached at [email protected].