Upon reading The Hoya’s “Housing Change Needs Student Push” (A3, Dec. 4, 2012), which discussed the benefits of a gender-neutral housing policy, I felt compelled to respond. Gender-neutral housing is a poor policy choice for any college, but especially for one with a Catholic tradition like Georgetown. Gender-neutral housing is counterproductive for both the university and the LGBTQ community.

One of the university’s purposes is to bring together students from different backgrounds — ethnic, financial and geographic — with the hope that we will take the opportunity to learn from each other. The best way to end bigotry is to foster inclusiveness and interaction among different people. A byproduct of gender-neutral housing would be the self-segregation of many LGBTQ students, which seems counterproductive to their stated goal of equality.

Rather than foster the acceptance of LGBTQ students, it will further isolate them from the rest of campus and allow bigotry to brew unnoticed. If bigotry is really a major problem on campus, gender-neutral housing does nothing to solve it. In reality, it would be papering over the problem rather than getting to the root of the issue. Gender-neutral housing won’t change anyone’s mind or opinions.

Do we want a university that enables bigotry so long as no one feels it directly, or one that is brave enough to tackle it head on with serious programs, institutional protections and sanctions? Civil rights activists fought so hard to prove “separate is not equal,” and it saddens me to see some students advocating for a policy that in the end will increase separation and, as such, undermine equality.

The fact that other institutions — including Duke, Harvard and Princeton — are implementing this wrong-headed policy does not mean that Georgetown should do the same. I would hope our administration has the courage to do what it thinks is right rather than blindly follow the actions of its peer institutions. How can Georgetown expect to foster student leadership if the school itself is unwilling to do the right thing, irrespective of public pressure or consequences?  Yes, it is possible we lose a student who is only willing to go to a school with gender-neutral housing, but we may gain another who is only willing to go to a school without such a policy. A loss of competitiveness based on our current housing policy is unlikely.

Last, our Catholic heritage should give us even more reason to reject such a radical policy. Catholic dogma leaves no gray area as to the morality of premarital sex and promiscuity. Gender-neutral housing only encourages lax sexual behavior, which is the last thing this school should do. Gender-neutral housing stands in direct contrast with what the Catholic Church — and as a consequence, Georgetown, stands for. We need to treasure our Catholic heritage.

Progressives in this country are waging a war on Christianity, and gender-neutral housing is just one battle in this war. It is rooted in the radical notion that there are not two genders but rather an infinite number where a man can be a woman and vice versa, or some combination of both. This concept flies in the face of nature and overcomplicates the simplest of truths. As a Catholic institution, we need to decide whether we will fight for Christian values or give in to secular progressive forces.

Whether it’s taking offense at a nativity scene or calling those who oppose gay marriage bigots, the progressive movement in this country aims to take religion out of the public sphere — repressing any public displays of faith in favor of a secular, atheistic and morally relativist culture.

It is a daily cultural fight that won’t end tomorrow. Men and women should not share dorm rooms; Georgetown should not bow to pressure and must not adopt gender-neutral housing.

I sincerely hope Georgetown is willing to stand up for its traditionalist values.

Scott Ruesterholz is a junior in the McDonough School of Business.