By: Grace Gu ’16
Staff Writer

A student chapel talk about the need to change the way people in the Peddie community look at individual unpopular opinions lingered in the classrooms, the dining hall and at meetings.

In the May 15 speech, Kenny Griffin ’14 encouraged the community to be more expressive and open-minded. Griffin used his disapproval of same-sex marriages as an example to express what he deemed an unpopular opinion.

“I experienced situations when the members of the Peddie community were dismissive and offended by unpopular viewpoints. I thought it was an important message to share since honesty and respect are Peddie’s core values,” Griffin said.

While Griffin addressed equal rights of all men by discussing civil liberties, Nelson Mandela and Abraham Lincoln, some audience members felt that his point on gay marriage was contradictory to his argument for equality. However, Griffin believed that his points have been misunderstood.

“I do feel that the speech was controversial but I don’t feel that I was targeting a certain group of people,” Griffin said. “Believing in traditional marriage doesn’t mean that I am against homosexual people.”

Andrew Card, who served as White House Chief of Staff under President Bush, spoke in the Peddie Chapel two weeks before Griffin’s speech and encouraged students to never be afraid to express unpopular opinions. Although Griffin felt connected to Card’s speech, he said his inspiration did not come from it.

“I wrote the piece earlier this year. I was happy to hear his closing line, which was a nice precursor,” Griffin said.

Some of the examples in Griffin’s speech sparked controversy and the opinions of students and faculty toward the speech vary. While some applauded his courage, others felt uncomfortable with his example of same-sex marriage.

“I respect that he had the courage to go up there and to talk about his opinions,” Jocelyn Ng ’14 said.

Some students understand Griffin’s underlying points, but feel very strongly against the examples he used.

“I agree that he should have his right to free speech. But by exercising his rights, he was taking away the rights of others in that room,” Alexandra Jones-Twadell ’16 said. “The gay community has the right to feel welcome, safe and secure, especially in their own chapel.”

Students were not the only ones who voiced their opinions; teachers also carried the issue of using free speech and the same-sex marriage example to their classes.
After the speech, English teacher Courtney Jackson ’04 discussed it with her Humanities class.

“My students agreed that the message of Peddie needing to be an open and inclusive community was an important one for us to hear,” Jackson said. “The topic he used as his example, however, was one that my students took issue with because he was talking about equality of ideas, but then used an example that advocated denying a group of people rights based on an aspect of their identity that they have no control over. Being gay isn’t an idea. It’s a part of who someone is.”

Jackson added that her class drew connections between past social justice issues such as segregation and women’s rights with the current debate over same sex marriage.

“Even though the views of Kenny’s talk were mixed, it got us talking, which I think, is what he wanted and what we need to keep doing as a community,” Jackson said.

English teacher Matthew Roach also discussed the speech with his students.

“I strongly disagree with his views on gay marriage, [but] I think he has the right to have those views,” Roach said. “We talked [in class] about whether you felt like this is an example of free speech being violated or if it is the case of honest disagreement.”

Outside of the classroom setting, Dean of Students and Residential Life Martin Mooney mentioned the talk during his meeting with a few new community prefects. Although the speech wasn’t the center of the meeting, they felt it was important to touch on.

“I was talking to three or four of our new community prefects about things going on at the school and that topic [the chapel talk] came up,” Mooney said. “Anytime a student gets up and speaks from the heart, I think it’s a good use of chapel.”