Gay should mean happy in this case

UW is set to have a lesbian chancellor.

MADISON — The University of Wisconsin-Madison is set to become the biggest university to have an openly gay leader, according to gay rights advocates who are hailing the appointment as a milestone.

Cornell University Provost Biddy Martin was recommended Wednesday to be the next chancellor at UW-Madison, a top national research university with 40,000 students.

What's with the "milestone" lingo? If she was gay and no one knew she was gay, would it still be a milestone?

About eight to 10 openly gay people have become college presidents and chancellors but mostly at small colleges, said Candace Gingrich of the Human Rights Campaign.

"None the size of UW-Madison," she said in a phone interview. "It is a big milestone, and it's part of the progress that we're seeing at the college and university levels. When you've got more and more openly gay faculty members and openly gay administrators, there are bound to be those who want to aspire to presidencies and chancellorships."

Is she talking about gay faculty aspiring to higher levels, or gay students aspiring to presidencies and chancellorships? And why shouldn't they aspire to those positions without openly gay people already holding them?

UW System spokesman David Giroux said Martin's sexual orientation was not a factor in her appointment, which is expected to be confirmed by the Board of Regents next week.

NOT A FACTOR. Who cares about her sexual orientation??? I sure don't. So why is there an entire article dedicated to the discussion?

I'll tell you why. In the off-chance she doesn't get confirmed, they can cry SEXUAL ORIENTATION DISCRIMINATION!

It's great UW is getting a new chancellor. It's great she's a female. If it were a male, that'd be great too. Knowing her sexual orientation, I can do without. It isn't relevant.

Until we stop putting race and gender and sexual orientation at the forefront of discussion, we'll continue to use those characteristics and traits to divide one another.