Pepperdine Alumni Finds Voice to Speak Out Against Ken Starr

After posting my last article about over 150 alumni of Pepperdine University School of Law upset by Ken Starr's dual role as the dean of Pepperdine University School of Law and lead attorney for Prop 8, I shared the article on my Facebook. It wasn't long before my phone vibrated to notify me someone had left a comment about the link. Here is what the notice said:

Deborah made a comment about your link:

"Let me clear my throat loudly here Boo -  I am a Pepperdine alum, class of '88 and '94 - now I want to go to law school at Pepperdine, my school that I have always been proud to go to - took the LSAT in Feb. - but I can't apparently attend because there is some clause in the Law School bylaws that says if I am a practicing homo and they find out, they can strip me of my degree, scholarhips, etc... WTF!!!! They loved me when I was straight - took my family's money - and take  fed/state $ - they were all over me when they saw me walk in and thought I was straight - help me girl - I know you can. PLUS - get this - I am disabled - and over 40!!! Now what, KEN STARR???  I am a proud alum and always have been, BUT I am ashamed at what KEN STARR has done - because I KNOW he did this - HE added it to the Law School app - and he's lead counsel for 8!! HELP - BOO!

Deb Blaine
Pepperdine Alumna
Seaver class of '88 B.A. (humanities)
GSEP class of '94  M.A. (clinical psych)"

It is not uncommon to have people leave opinionated comments to some of the links I share, but Deb's comment really struck me, and really inspired me to look even further into the issue, and to find out more of her story. So I got in touch with Deb to see if she would fill me in on what she experienced. She sent me an open letter "Re: Pepperdine". Not only does she have an interesting story to tell, I was surprised to learn some very disturbing information about the reality of discrimination from major universities, even towards successful alumni. 

Open Letter from Deborah Blaine:

"First off, let me say that I have always been very proud to say that I went to Pepperdine.  However, when I heard the commercial on TV during the elections about prop 8 with the professor from Pepperdine, my stomach sank. Then over Christmas I found out about Ken Starr becoming lead counsel and just about died of embarassment.  I went immediatley to my car and peeled off my alumni decal, which I have never done in 20 years.

Ok, so I am just going to scream it now - I am an out and proud lesbian!!!!  And I am going to shout it from the roof tops, Ken Starr, until you wake up and listen, and guess what, we are people too! We are not less than, we are equal too. You know how many gay people have gone there? Are going there? And will go there for years to come?

And how about this? I took the LSAT in February, because foolish me, I had a dream. My daughter finished high school and went off to college last Fall, and I thought maybe I could try to go back to the school that I loved. But guess what? I walked though the doors over the holidays and was greeted with smiles and nothing but positives encouraging me to apply. Why? Because I was a double alumna, I was over 40, a woman, disabled, part indian, blah, blah. But what they didn't know was that I had checked the LGBT box too.

So, when I got home, I read the student handbook over, and you can imagine how my heart sank. It said basically, because I am a practicing HOMO, I would be stripped of a degree, all scholarships, etc.. and could not sit for the bar (kind of a don't ask - don't tell policy), which obviously doesn't work for me.  

What do I need to do? What roof top do I need to climb on?  What mountain do I need to shout from?  Is my money not green enough?  My brain not smart enough? Well, I am not sitting in the back of the bus anymore, Mr. Starr, pretending to be some prefect suburban American princess. The gloves are off. I am mad as hell. And I am not going to take it anymore.

Sincerely,

Deborah L. Blaine

Seaver class of '88 B.A. (humanities)

GSEP class of '94 M.A. (clinical psych)"

I passed this information on to a few friends and co-workers, and no one believed that practices of discrimination based on sexuality were actually legal, even if they were clearly stated in various documents from the school. Furthermore, people also didn't think that, despite being written into contracts and handbooks, these statements were actually practiced, even if Pepperdine is a Church of Christ university. I believed it, and was hurt by how blind even some of my fellow grassroots equality organization activists still are regarding discrimination in schools. Karma was on my side, apparently, because I checked the DecisionDay twitter and saw one of the LGBT tweet accounts posted the link to this clip of Equality U. 

Obviously, this controversy goes much deeper than Ken Starr, Pepperdine University and Prop 8. I am seeing a stronger and stronger validity to the theories about homophobes thinking that we are out to take control of everything, and that allowing us to get an education makes it that much easier for us to multiply, convert and organize.