At last the truth comes out about the A&M academic freedom scandal; a scholar of ancient Greek and Roman philosophy elsewhere writes:

If you have given much thought to Aristophanes’ speech in the  Symposium, you can see why Texas wanted to step in to remove it from the curriculum.

1) It reinforces the oppressive gender binary by insisting that every human being is naturally either male or female, and stays that way throughout life. This erasure of intersex, trans, and gender-fluid people is offensive to the government and people of Texas.

2) It says that erotic orientation is biologically innate and determined at some primordial time, instead of being socially constructed and self-determined. If you are half of an original M/F proto-human, then you will be straight, no matter what you think or feel. The state of Texas stands with those who resist biological-determinist theories of erotic orientation.

3) It entails that no one is genuinely bisexual or asexual, since each person’s other half was either male or female, but not both or neither. It entails that anyone who sometimes feels attracted towards members of more than one sex is simply confused about the nature of the other half they were originally joined with. This condescending attitude towards bisexual people, treating them as though they are suffering a temporary epistemic limitation and are only “going through a phase,” is offensive to the people of Texas, who stand with the rights of bisexuals. 

Although I respect the Aggie administration’s desire to fight against the gender binary, biological determinism, and anti-bisexual rhetoric, I think that students in Texas universities are capable of thinking critically even when faced with reactionary propaganda that enforces outmoded gender ideologies.