Crowds of students and Moscow community members filled the Bruce M. Pitman Center’s International Ballroom Tuesday night for a pro-sexism lecture sponsored by the UI Collegiate Reformed Fellowship (CRF).
Pastor Douglas Wilson began his lecture by discussing the definition of sexism. He outlined a list of indefensible acts against women that he does not condone, despite the described “provocative title” of his lecture — including rape, battery, domestic abuse, molestation and gaslighting.
Maggie Elmore, a CRF member, supported Wilson’s point of view in the lecture.
“I think (Wilson) really represented how Christians believe men and women should live in our world today,” Elmore said. “He spoke to the issue that we are counter-cultural, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.”
Some members of the audience arrived early to protest the lecture using noise-making devices and audibly shredding paper. As Wilson discussed his take on biblical theory’s ties to modern-day treatments of women, protesters shouted responses.
Zack Bishop, UI’s Young Democrats president, said he co-organized the protest along with members of UI Generation Action and UI Black Student Union.
“(Wilson) reaffirmed his stance that women should be submissive,” said Bishop. “And that’s a negative stance.”
Margot Watts, a member of UI Generation Action, also came to protest the event.
“We don’t need to just respect our husbands,” Watts said. “We have the right to love people and not be beneath them.”
One protester was asked to leave the lecture by campus security after they shouted during the lecture.
When asked about the protest efforts, Wilson said he would like to see a culture of respect for different ideas, where people hear each other’s arguments without trying to disrupt or harass.
“I wasn’t stopped from saying what I wanted to say,” Wilson said. “But the clickers and the harassment made it more difficult to finish everything.”
Four Moscow Police Department officers attended the lecture for security purposes, Moscow Police Department Capt. Tyson Berrett said.
Students and members of the community are allowed to protest inside such campus events, as long as they do so peacefully.
“It’s free speech for both sides, but it needs to be civil,” Berrett said. “Any disruption as far as trying to interrupt the speaker, signs, umbrellas or trying to obstruct the view won’t be allowed.”
UI Campus Security was also in attendance, with multiple security personnel following UI’s new clear bag policy as they checked audience members entering the lecture.
After the lecture, audience members were invited to text any questions they had for Wilson to a phone number provided on the lecture program. As Wilson answered a question during the Q&A, one audience member interjected, “What about nonbinary folks?”
Wilson replied, “Well, God didn’t make those.”
Belphoebe Merkle, a CRF member in attendance, said just because non-binary people identify one way, doesn’t mean we have to recognize that as legitimate.
“We wouldn’t think of them as any less of a person,” Merkle said. “We think they’re made in the image of God just as much as anyone else.”
The CRF will host Doug Wilson again on March 5 in the Whitewater room in the Idaho Student Union Building. They will host events on Feb. 13, 20 and 27 as well.
CRF President Josiah Anderson declined to comment regarding the lecture.
Ellen Dennis and Angela Palermo can be reached at [email protected]