Last week, in light of the impending Supreme Court decisions to be made regarding gay marriage, Gaels united to make it clear that Iona is an inclusive campus that does not tolerate discrimination.

On April 28, freshman Bill Maloney made a public statement on all of his social media channels that condemned the act of gay marriage.

“Today the Supreme Court begins to hear arguments concerning gay marriage,” posted Maloney. “I, a proud Roman Catholic, know that gay marriage is atrocious, deplorable, wicked and monstrous. The real war on America society have spewed for the American society have spewed for the reasons of political correctness, stupidity, moral impairment, and pure evil.”

He continued to compare American leaders such as President Barack Obama, former-Secretary-of-State Hilary Clinton and Governor of New York Andrew Cuomo to Jospeh Stalin, Adolf Hitler and Ho Chi Minh. The posts continued along this rhetoric, but did not mention Iona College specifically in the subject matter. However, Maloney tagged Iona College directly and hash tagged several Iona indicators like #IonaCollege, #IonaGaels, #GoGaels and #WICR.

“I know I speak for myself and my entire E-board when I say we considered these remarks unacceptable and against everything WICR stands for,” said Iona College Radio (WICR) President Joe Archino. “We are not in the business of hurting or offending people. A line was crossed and it’s now up to us to ensure that our commitment to respect and diversity is acknowledged by all.”

Iona’s LGBQT+ club, Gael Pride, immediately responded on Twitter, “As an organization under the jurisdiction of Iona College we would like to publicly announce that we support ALL identities and people.” A following tweet encouraged the community to “let it be known that one student’s views on same-sex marriage and homosexuality do in no way reflect the opinion of the student body.”

The official Iona College twitter account put out a statement at 2:32 PM to clarify: “Iona College does not endorse or condone the remarks made by Mr. Maloney that he has since removed.” The tweet received 87 retweets and 153 favorites.

“The issue with the social media posting which prompted the College’s response was that the opinion of a individual student appeared to be approved by Iona based on the manner it was presented,” Vice Provost for Student Life Charles Carlson said. “There was the use of various hashtags identifying Iona which created the misconception that the opinion was a college approved statement. That was not the case and the need for a clarification is what prompted the College’s prompt response.”

Several more tweets were made in support of inclusiveness on campus and students were determined to show that Iona is not the discriminatory place that Maloney’s posts portrayed it to be.

“Gael Pride was extremely upset with the anti-LGBTQ+ comments made by Mr. Maloney,” Gael Pride President Olivia Fargiano said. “Seeing some people on campus holding strong homophobic opinions is definitely saddening, but it was inspiring to see a supportive reaction from the student body”

Next year’s SGA President Tommy Severin tweeted, “Proud of @ionacollege for standing up against and denouncing the intolerant and bigoted statements unjustly made using our name. #GaelNation.”

SGA Advisor and Assistant Director of Student Development Kelli Meyer also tweeted from her personal account.

“If any member of the Iona community feels marginalized or unwelcomed, please contact OSD or a member of the Student Life Diversity Committee,” Meyer tweeted.

“I specifically felt as though the issue was handled well by the school, but I know that many students are still disappointed with the anti-LGBTQ+ individuals on campus,” Fargiano said. “The individual obviously has the right to express his opinion, but clearly discriminatory and hateful speech towards a marginalized group should never be tolerated.”

Iona College has a public statement on diversity that can be found on the college’s website. The statement lists a number of identities that the school is inclusive to but specifically to marital status, sexual orientation, affectional preference and gender identity. The statement also defines a goal to foster an “understanding, appreciation and valuing of diversity.”

“I feel that within our community we should be able to exchange ideas, but we also need to be careful how we express our opinions and always attempt to present them in a positive manner as not to demean another persons position,” Carlson said.

Maloney has since removed his posts from social media on his own accord. As well, he has deleted all of his social media accounts and wished not to contribute to this article.

“The principles of respect and integrity are applicable to everyone,” Archino said.