However, "it's not so much Leverett House asthe school overall," Gideonse qualified. "Theschool as an institution does not respond to gaystudents' needs in the way that they should," hesaid.

Gideonse, a gay student who describes himselfas "very out," said that "there are others who arenot [out] because of the environment."

Gideonse said he was a member of Contact, apeer counseling group that deals with issues ofsexual orientation, and was frustrated in hisattempts to poster for the group in LeverettHouse.

"The average amount of time a poster would stayup in [Leverett] Towers was a day.[Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra] posters would be upfor three weeks, but Contact might be gone in anhour," he said.

"There's no other way to interpret that exceptas anti-gay," Gideonse said.

Derek Ho '96, president of theHarvard-Radcliffe College Democrats, who hostedthe congressperson's speech, said he was "saddenedto hear about it."

"I guess that [the Leverett incident] and theMather House [racial slur] event are indicative ofsome of the very ugly sentiments that exist underthe atmosphere of superficial tolerance that moststudents at Harvard express," Ho said.

Ho said he was "particularly upset thatCongressman Frank was the target."

"He is such a complex and multifaceted person,that to single out this one characteristic iscompletely ignorant of who he is," Ho said.

Leverett House residents disagree on what stepsshould be taken in response to the incident.

Gideonse said he feels that a mandatory housemeeting would be valuable.

"Mather House masters took an incredibly activerole to put [racial slurs] down," he said.

"They held a house meeting to discuss it.[Leverett House] should create a dialogue, harshand powerful, condemning actions like this."

"I want to see a response that's equal to theway it makes me feel," Gideonse said.

You said she agreed that a House meeting wouldbe appropriate.

Manguso, however, said she thought a meetingwould not be effective in changing the attitudesof the vandal.

"Someone who would do something like this wouldnot benefit from sharing someone else's point ofview and talking about it," Manguso said. "I'm notsure that holding an all-house meeting wouldaccomplish anything."

Ho said he thought the slur was particularlymeaningful in light of Frank's speech Saturday.

"It's ironic because in [Frank's] speechyesterday, he said the first amendment is forassholes and that the first amendment is the rightof jerks to be jerks," Ho said. "I guess we sawthat here.