Meet the man behind 'the design': Q-and-A with Doug Wilson

Editor’s note: Doug Wilson was the speaker for the controversial “Sexual by Design” lecture Friday. Unavailable for comment in the previous story that ran in the IDS on Monday, Wilson spoke with the IDS to discuss his take on the event, during which numerous people protested and one person was arrested.

IDS What did you think of the response that you received for your lecture at IU?
WILSON Well, we were surprised at the response it got, but we weren’t surprised that night because there had been enough said leading up to it that we knew roughly what to expect. But we were surprised when we initially got that reaction two weeks out. We were just doing a couple of talks at the University and weren’t trying to be provocative.

IDS Have you ever faced that kind of response and protest before when you’ve gone to speak at places?
WILSON Yes, I have. I’ve never been in a situation where all those elements were in the same room together, but I’ve been in situations where bits and pieces of it were there. Events that I’ve done have been protested. There have been protesters, and I’ve had Q-and-As that were hostile and that sort of thing. But I’ve never had all those elements together in one room.

IDS How would you respond to the gay or gay-sympathetic students who came to protest and felt like they were being hated?
WILSON I was presenting an argument, a particular point of view, and we didn’t expect everyone to say, “Oh, Doug Wilson showed up, everybody agrees with him.” And if I might put it this way, it’s like I would tell the kindergartners that they ought to use their indoor voice. We’re having a conversation.
The hatred and the bigotry that I saw was not being directed from the Christians to the gays and lesbians and so on. It was going entirely the other way. I didn’t hear any Christians cussing out the protesters. I didn’t hear anyone trying to disrupt or interrupt someone when they were talking. But there was quite a bit of that the other way. Tirades, trying to interrupt the meeting, getting arrested, that sort of thing. If you want to find your hatred and bigotry, I would simply say you ought to go to Home Depot and buy a mirror.

IDS What did you most take away from the response of the audience?
WILSON It struck me that 25 years ago, this couldn’t have happened on a college campus, even a liberal, secular college campus. It could’ve happened and did happen if they were protesting the Vietnam War or that sort of thing. There have always been student protests. But on sort of fundamental issues like what is a man, what is a woman, what is marriage, we had two different civilizations represented there.

IDS What do you hope that the audience members took away from your speaking?
WILSON I think some of the Christians who came knew who I was, and they’d read some of my books and so on. I hope that they were encouraged by the interaction and in someone standing up for what they believe.
But for the seculars and the people who don’t agree with me at all, my hope for them, my prayer for them, is that they will have been surprised and think, “Oh, well maybe this Wilson guy doesn’t have three heads and drool,” you know? “Maybe he’s a person, and we should’ve treated him with greater dignity and respect.”
I should mention that after the talk, three or four people who had self-identified as on the other side came down and apologized to me on behalf of the behavior of the others. And I’ve gotten one email since the event that said, “I’m not in your corner, I’m not on your side, but I’m real sorry about what happened.” And I think some of that happened because they were surprised that I didn’t show up as a fire-eater ready to declare war on the University.

IDS Knowing how the lecture went down this time when you came to IU, would you ever come back if you were asked to return?
WILSON Yes, I would love to come back. If an opportunity arose to speak to the University again, I would not hesitate to accept the invitation. I might be a little better prepared earlier on. We, in the week or two before the event, when we realized what was going to happen, we had to do some scrambling to get ready. So if we were to do it again, we might be ready sooner. But I was just really appreciative of all the hard work that the ClearNote folks put into it. They accomplished what they needed to accomplish, but it was kind of under the deadline.
I also don’t want to have this go without saying how much I appreciated the consistent stand the University took and the behavior of the cops, which I thought was just great. I was very grateful and very appreciative.