Louisiana Congressman Attacks University’s LGBT Studies Program

Rep. Jeff Landry (R-LA) is a “proud” alumnus of the University of Louisiana, Lafayette, but he doesn’t want any students there to learn about thing about pride. This week, he lashed out at his alma mater for offering an LGBT Studies minor, claiming “it fails to provide an economic benefit to the participants or financial sense for the taxpayer.” Not only did the minor not require any budgetary allocations, but it’s just one of many diversity-related minors UL Lafayette offers, including African-American studies, Cajun and Creole studies, Latin American studies, etc. Even if a trivial amount of resources were required to sustain the minor, Landry’s still wrong; teaching LGBT studies makes good taxpayer sense, because inclusive work environments are good for business and productivity, plus LGBT students on campus perform better when acknowledged as members of the campus community.