<p>I mostly want to discuss in my essay that I am a Christian who believes that everyone, including homosexuals, should have rights, esp. to marry who they want to marry even though I don't agree with homosexuality. I also want to go into how I feel homosexuals are treated unfairly by so many people, esp. by some 'Christians'.</p>
<p>Is this topic too controversial sense it goes into Gay Marriage and Religion?</p>
<p>In a perfect world, admissions officers who are reading your essay would be able to put aside their opinions to read the essay for what it’s worth. However, we all have biases, and while your views lean more towards the moderate/liberal side of things, there’s just as much of a chance that you will end up with a conservative or atheist admissions officer reading your essay. I’m not an expert on college essays since I haven’t written mine (I’m a rising senior), but I would strongly suggest not writing on that topic since it is obviously very controversial and you don’t want your chances of being accepted to be skewed. And honestly, unless it’s affecting your life (are you LGBT?), it’s not about “you” and your life, but rather your views. Anyone can correct me if I’m wrong, since I’m no expert.</p>
<p>I like ShadowMist’s questions because they probe why you might want to write about this issue. Why does it matter to you? If you have a clear, compelling reason to write about it (like you or someone you’re close to is LGBT), then you might attack the topic from the angle of how you explored and adopted your belief.</p>
<p>Did something happen to change your mind? Did you face any resistance in arriving at your belief? How has your belief changed the way you act?</p>
<p>If you reflect on these questions, you might be able to defuse a controversial topic by focusing on your personal growth instead of the topic itself. Then again, after more thought, you might decide you can tell a story of personal growth with a topic less likely to provoke people’s prejudices.</p>
<p>I agree with both of the responses you guys have given me. I didn’t think it was a big deal but I searched topics you should’nt go over in an college essay for application. I agree that if I decide to pick this topic, I need to push it towards personal growth and experience about my thoughts on gay rights rather than my views on gay rights which would then be a controversial topic.</p>
<p>If you do it right, this would be a very strong topic. Of course, a lot of it depends which school you’re applying to as well. I wouldn’t be at all afraid to write about this for the University of Chicago, for example, because I think that school’s culture/environment is very friendly to “controversial” topics.</p>
<p>Of course, you’re absolutely right that any essay should not solely discuss your personal views - on anything - but rather how you developed those views and how it’s affected your growth as a person. The topic - in this case, LGBT rights - should be a frame for exploring yourself, not a frame for exploring your opinions.</p>
<p>Some potential ideas I came up with for this topic - may not apply to your situation specifically:
*How you came to your beliefs, i.e., was it realizing that one must evaluate evidence (e.g., the Constitution) for oneself before coming to a conclusion, rather than merely accepting what an authority has said
*How you’ve dealt with those that disagree with your views
*Something you witnessed/experienced that shaped your beliefs and how that affected the way you view the world or approach other controversial issues</p>
<p>It’s certainly going to be a challenge, and I suspect that the best way you could write this is if you just smashed it out of the keyboard in a moment of passion so that it represents you without any conscious or unconscious “taming” in the writing process - worry about editing later. If the essay really shows off who you are and how you think, that’s the goal.</p>
<p>I know I’m late to the discussion, but I had to butt in.</p>
<p>Definitely avoid generalizations of either party, because not all Christians are hateful towards the LGBTQ community. Even saying “most” is too much. I’m gay and Christian, so clearly I’m not hateful towards either party.</p>
<p>I think it would be a great topic if you used it to show that you’re open to diversity and you can appreciate all kinds of people. It would also be really good if you could show personal reflection on the topic. Did your opinion on this possibly change at any point due to some event or person? I think the most important thing to show in a college essay is reflection and the ability to be honest and critical of yourself. Try to let them into your head and show them what your reasoning is, then link it back into diversity and equality. It’s your essay obviously, so do what you want, but I think that that would make an excellent essay :)</p>
<p>I can’t believe that I never saw this before and I’m not sure it’s helpful, but I don’t think believing that human beings deserve rights is at all remarkable, deserving of praise, or particularly flattering commentary on a potential applicant. </p>
<p>At best, you have expressed that you are a person who doesn’t believe in taking away rights from human beings. This is generally, you know, what decent people think, and “growing” to believe that human beings deserve rights makes you look more ignorant than anything else. </p>
<p>At worst, your queer adcom will find you irritating and hypocritical.</p>
<p>Probably won’t help OP, but if anyone else is thinking about this…</p>