In a heated post entitled “Filthy V-Monologues at Georgetown University,” the blog Catholic Campus Watch criticized Georgetown University for allowing students to present The Vagina Monologues.

The blog, which aims “for the restoration of Catholic education,” condemned the production’s “anti-Catholic message of indecency” and invited readers to contact President DeGioia in protest.

“St. Ignatius must turn in his grave,” the post read.

Organized as a series of monologues about violence against women, female sexuality, and other topics pertinent to women, the play has been controversial since its first performance in 1996, and particularly on the campuses of Catholic universities.

Two of the co-directors of the Georgetown productions, Victoria Handley (COL ’11) and Elizabeth Seaman (COL ’12), said that they feel “feel very fortunate and proud to be a part of the Georgetown University community, which has remained supportive of the annual performances of The Vagina Monologues.”

Rather than anti-Catholic, they note that the play continues the Jesuit history of using the theater arts to draw attention to social issues.

“We believe that performing The Vagina Monologues, which focuses on female sexuality and challenges gender norms, is continuing this important Jesuit tradition,” Handley and Seaman said.

The Vagina Monologues opens today in the Devine Studio Theater in the Davis Center.

Image: Wikipedia

Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, spoke at Georgetown University yesterday about “Beyond DADT Repeal: The Future of the LGBTQ Rights Movement.”

The event, sponsored by the Georgetown University Lecture Fund, Georgetown Pride, and the LGBTQ Resource Center, attracted the attention of the conservative blog Catholic Campus Watch, which pronounced that the lecture “…spells out the sad reality that on many Catholic campuses, especially at Georgetown, perennial Catholic morality is often rejected, and the immoral agenda of the homosexual movement is welcomed.”

Despite Catholic Campus Watch’s opposition—and perhaps in part because of it—Solmonese’s lecture drew a large crowd to Copley Formal Lounge.

Solmonese praised Georgetown’s non-discrimination policy, as well as the LGBTQ Resource Center.

Addressing DADT’s repeal, Solmonese framed the discussion with a question: How can we make sense of LGBT victories when they are clearly long overdue? Reminding the audience of activists’ “empowered, strategic” responses to discriminatory policies, Solmonese argued that actions such as the repeal of DADT and the passage of the Matthew Shepherd Act still count as victories for the community.

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