Nov. 15, 2007

When ‘Not Gay’ is ‘Not OK’

We come from old Virginia,
Where all is bright and gay.
NOT GAY!

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After a Cavalier touchdown, the marching band strikes up what, to an outsider, sounds like “Auld Lang Syne.” But, to its tune, students and alumni sing the “Good Old Song,” its lyrics written by Edward A. Craighill in 1895, its mention of all being “bright and gay” a throwback to when “gay” meant “happy,” the line a launching pad for what’s since become a university tradition of negating the word “gay” with gleeful (often drunken) shouts of “not gay!”

At the University of Virginia, steeped as it is in tradition, a student-led campaign this semester has applied peer pressure to encourage students to rethink the ritual. “Essentially,” said Stephen Leonelli, president of the Queer and Allied Activism group at Virginia, “we believe that it marginalizes the gay community by creating an environment in which certain people who may or may not identify as gay do not feel welcome.”

The campaign has sparked a fury of letters and opinion pieces in the student newspaper, The Cavalier Daily, with the latest opinion piece, on Wednesday, defending the “not gay” chant and criticizing a culture of political correctness and liberal groupthink. “I’m just expressing my religiously informed political views that it’s wrong to act homosexual,” Alex Cortes, a first-year student and the writer of “Not gay and proud of it,” said in an interview Wednesday.

But while Cortes described his participation in the “not gay” chant as ideologically driven, those behind the campaign believe the bulk of those chanting are following the crowd. This isn’t the first time the cheer has sparked controversy: An earlier campaign six years ago to challenge the chant had been quite successful at stemming the shouts, at least from students, said Lauren Tilton, the president of the Student Council. But institutional memories at colleges are short – at least on the student level – and, “We noticed that at one of the games that we thought the chant was starting to come back a bit. So we decided to basically do something before it got much louder,” Tilton said.

“It is student self-governance in action,” said Carol Wood, a Virginia spokeswoman, adding that while the administration has not been involved in the issue, the students spearheading the campaign have its full support. “With student self-governance it’s really great to see the students taking this action themselves.”

At a November 3 home game between Virginia and Wake Forest University, students distributed stickers that said, simply, “Where all is bright and gay,” in addition to an open letter explaining that the “not gay” chant “lends community support to harassment, violence and bigotry,” and can make an already marginalized group feel unsafe and uncomfortable. “We ask that you not only not say ‘not gay’ but hold your peers to the same standard. If you hear it, remind them why it is not acceptable and use it as an opportunity to educate our community on how we need to be open and inclusive,” the letter said.

“What we found a lot of times is that people weren’t thinking really critically of why they were saying it,” Tilton said. “We took it as an education campaign, to remind people that when you say this it actually hurts people in our community.”

“At the Wake Forest game, I noticed a remarkable drop in the number of people who said the ‘not gay’ chant,” said Wyatt Fore, a leader of the campaign and co-chair of the Minority Rights Coalition. “From where I was sitting, it not only decreased from previous games, but it decreased during the game itself.”

“If you see people wearing these stickers, you realize, well there are lots of people around me who don’t say it. It makes you think and have that conversation with yourself – ‘why do I say it?’”

“It was a really great experience for me because even when people disagreed, they at least familiarized themselves with the fact that people do disagree with students or alumni saying ‘not gay,’” added Leonelli of the Queer and Allied Activism group. Handing out stickers to a “group of three girls, one said, ‘I don’t want this at all,’ and one said, ‘I do.’ And then they started talking about it.”

Yet, as the Cavalier Daily has reported, there has been some backlash. On the one hand, “There are the contrarians,” Fore acknowledged — and in fact, a recent Cavalier Daily column quoted one such law student as saying, “I probably wouldn’t do the cheer myself if it wasn’t for the people out there somewhere telling me I shouldn’t be doing the cheer.”

But beyond the contrarians, said Patrick Lee, co-chair with Fore of the Minority Rights Coalition, “When I was passing out the stickers, alumni were saying some pretty nasty things to me.”

“I go to other campuses all the time,” said Lee, who called Virginia “the bastion of southern gentlemen.”

“What you hear, what’s considered OK there and what’s considered OK here, is just amazing,” said Lee, who added that while he understands the student self-governance model, he wishes the university administration would be more proactive in addressing the issues at stake directly.

“People still wonder why the university can’t seem to shed its reputation as an unfriendly place for certain minorities. This is why,” said an editorial in the October 15 Cavalier Daily calling the “Not gay” chant “Not OK.” The editorial pointed out that the chant is sometimes audible to television audiences.

“For many viewers watching the games from home, their only exposure to the university are the several times each game when insecure fans shriek how ‘not gay’ they are....The university’s inability to curtail the chant tarnishes its reputation. And rightfully so.”

“How the school responds to it is the key thing,” said Pat Griffin, a professor emeritus of social justice education at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and director of It Takes a Team, a project that promotes education about sexual orientation in sports. Such potentially offensive cheers — which, in some cases, take the form of taunts, like in the recent case of a Duke University basketball player who, as OutSports reported, was called “Brokeback” by opposing fans — could evolve at any college, Griffin said. “All it takes is a vocal minority who don’t care to start something up like that. It’s up to the school to set the norms for what’s OK and what’s not OK.”

“We certainly haven’t done away with homophobia especially in a football stadium setting with lots of people, and possibly some drinking going on,” added Griffin. (She spoke during a panel discussion at the University of Virginia several years ago.)

But while some cite tradition and football spectator culture as reasons why certain students and alumni resist calls to cease the chanting, Cortes, the author of the Wednesday opinion piece defending the cheer, said it’s a mistake to discount all those who yell it as “drunks or homophobes.”

“I’m neither...It’s a lot easier to label me as a drunk or a homophobe so they don’t have to address my concerns [intellectually]….When I’m saying I’m not gay, I’m asserting basically that I’m heterosexual and, through that, that it’s wrong to act gay,” Cortes said, stressing that he is not condemning gay people but homosexual acts.

“During the second half of the football season I have felt uncomfortable saying the ‘not gay’ chant, not because of the content, but because of the stares and criticisms I receive after doing so,” he wrote in his Cavalier Daily opinion piece. “Despite this discomfort, I will continue to press on as one of the last beacons of strength and morality. That may sound too pompous for the rather insignificant matter at hand, but courage on any level is hard to find these days. Political correctness, a weakening morality and lack of courage are suffocating our once-great nation.”

— Elizabeth Redden

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Comments

Here’s one more reason why everyone loves VT more than UVA.

Go Hokies.

Dr.E, at 6:45 am EST on November 15, 2007

Not That There’s Anything Wrong With It ...

It’s hard to know just what to say

When you’re gay but you’re REALLY not gay.

I wish I could chant —

But you know that I can’t —

‘You boys are the best! Yea!, Yea!, Yea!’”

Frizbane Manley, at 7:20 am EST on November 15, 2007

Say what?

hmm .. why not “bright — YAY!” Or “bright — HEY!”

Or “bright — (insert famous author’s name).”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay_Talese

People — we are talking about college football, drunken fools, and the 1st Amendment on Mr. Jefferson’s campus.

Could we just all get along, and dial this down a few notches? Violators to get a free, one-way trip to Iraq. Thanks.

H.J., at 8:10 am EST on November 15, 2007

It is heartening to see that just making people aware of what they were doing has had a significant impact on a their behavior.

This incident is also sadly enlightening. If this had been an equivalent racial or ethnic slur it would have been stomped out forcefully a long time ago. The fact that the issue is even debatable demonstrates once again the homophobia is the last bastion of socially acceptable bigotry.

Anonymous, at 8:10 am EST on November 15, 2007

Soon they’ll be after Norfolk Collegiate

for the legendary:

We don’t smoke, and we don’t chew,

And we don’t go with girls that do;

NORFOLK, NORFOLK, NORFOLK!

Fimum Fit, at 8:55 am EST on November 15, 2007

Wahoos get their way

From a school (administration/alumni/students) that actively markets and profits from it’s student’s pride in binge drinking (the Wahoos nickname at U.Va. is proudly touted by students as the wahoo fish, supposedly known for drinking copious amounts of water without drowning in order to puff itself up for a fight. This has thus been compared to binge drinking, comparing the fish to a U.Va. student drinking copious amounts of alcohol.) Would you expect anything less than acceptable chanting bigotry?

Sad to be affiliated with U.Va, at 8:55 am EST on November 15, 2007

It’s sad that something people spend their time on something as unimportant as this...

K.T., at 10:00 am EST on November 15, 2007

Not Gay Chant

I think it does matter and is not an insignificant topic...Mr. Cortes shouldn’t be ashamed of expressing his views. That is his right. What he should be ashamed of is having those homophobic views in the first place. He doesn’t think it is right for people to “act gay;” I suppose it is right for people to “act macho?” I smell the stench of religious bigotry here.

p fox, at 11:05 am EST on November 15, 2007

I’m glad to see that this has sparked some actual debate among the students.

Typically, the response to uncouth behavior is for the Administration of a university to clamp down, enforce “diversity” (read groupthink) and hold a school-wide whinefest for the ‘oppressed’.

To see that there is a debate means that perhaps the ideals of the university and true ‘diversity of opinion’ is not completely snuffed out by political correctness.

Assistant Professor, at 11:05 am EST on November 15, 2007

Responding To K.T

Look K.T., I could spend all morning reviewing and revising my lecture notes for my Structural Equation Models class that meets this afternoon.

Or I could walk over to the Math Department and catch the lecture, “Hemi-Demi Groupoids With Chain Conditions.”

Or I could walk down the hall to see if Jake and Anne want to go to lunch (but all they ever want to talk about is “W” and his damned war).

Or I could go to the meeting of the Assessment Group, the one I am missing because I lied and told Donna I had a conflicting meeting with the Provost to discuss ways to encourage undergraduate research.

Or I could work on this report about interdisciplinary courses and team teaching ... the one I promised [God, who was it] I’d write.

Nawwww ... I think I’ll sit here, catch up on my e-mail communication and write limericks for Inside Higher Ed.

Frizbane Manley, at 11:35 am EST on November 15, 2007

Not Brown

I wonder if Mr. Alex Cortes would have a problem if the verse ended with “...where all is bright and brown.” How would he feel if the majority were shouting “I’M NOT BROWN!” If he heard that shouted in his ear, then maybe he would understand how gay people feel about his unprovoked animosity. If he has a problem with gays, that’s fine. But if no one is in his face about his personal qualities not shared by the majority of Americans, then he should just show a little more wisdom and keep his piehole shut!

Superman, at 11:35 am EST on November 15, 2007

Let them

Let us retort “Not Bright” and Let the Truth Prevail.

ellis, at 11:55 am EST on November 15, 2007

Just to be clear: the people who _don’t_ want to scream along with a huge drunken mob are engaging in “groupthink"...

Confused, at 12:00 pm EST on November 15, 2007

words matter

I’d say this sort of thing is important. So many of us, faculty, students, alumni and people of the world, do so many things reflexively without thinking of just what we are doing or saying, what the implications are. If I have to proclaim myself “not X” it’s because I see something wrong with X, maybe something to be feared. Few among us would talk about “jewing” someone down on a price, but we might just as readily, without any thought, refer to “gyping” (Romas/Gypsies) someone, or “welshing” (the Welsh) on a deal, not taking into account the stereotyping, maybe even bigotry, that goes with such phrasing and lack of thinking.

Even as a liberal, I might invoke Margaret Thatcher here, who is reported to have said something along the lines of “If someone has to tell you they are a lady or powerful, they are neither.” If I have to proclaim I’m “not gay,” then maybe I need to do some soul searching about my sexuality or my attitudes about sexuality that differs from my own.

bradley bleck, instructor at Spokane Falls CC, at 12:00 pm EST on November 15, 2007

Words and their Meanings

Do I remember correctly that “gay” can indeed still mean something like “happy,” “glad,” or even “joyful"?

In addition to humility and tolerance, we ought to be trying to strengthen students’ literary imagination, so they will be able to understand words in more than one way. In the “Good Old Song,” “gay” does not mean “homosexual” (though I don’t hereby suggest it would be wrong if it did). There’s nothing to be afraid of here.

Yavo, Adventurer, at 12:45 pm EST on November 15, 2007

courage

I am not sure it is courage that is the true motivating factor behind chanting “Not Gay". I think it might be more courageous for someone to admit their acts may have been hurtful to someone else, and refrain from further causing harm. sometimes the most courageous action, is to show compassion to those who are normally lashed out at. If indeed Mr. Cortez does not have anything against the gay community, then why would he continue in this behavior that is potentially painful to them? Just because we have the right to free speach does not mean we have to exercise it at others expense.

Another UVA Student, at 1:30 pm EST on November 15, 2007

It is interesting to see how this is playing out at UVA. It means so much, I believe, that students are taking the initiative and challenging others to think critically. They’re not saying “don’t be a homophobe” but they’re asking everyone to think critically. That’s a huge outcome of education. I hope positive dialogue stems from this.

orangutang, at 2:35 pm EST on November 15, 2007

About those “traditions”

Having done my graduate work at Virginia in the 1980s, I can tell you that one of the things people need to know about U.Va. is that the students like to appeal to “traditions” they created last Thursday or thereabouts. (For instance, graduation was marred one year by students engaging in the “tradition” of breaking bottles on the steps of the Rotunda — a “tradition” that had consisted of nothing more than a couple of drunken fools smashing bottles the year before.) I attended many a football game back then, and no one — really, no one — shouted “not gay” after the line “where all is bright and gay.” In other words, this here venerable “tradition” is about as “traditional” as the breaking of bottles on the Rotunda — and is every bit as worthy of our respect. Which is to say, the sooner it is disdained and discontinued, the more decent a place Virginia will appear to be.

Michael Bérubé, at 3:15 pm EST on November 15, 2007

Did I Misread This?

“It is student self-governance in action,” said Carol Wood.

The first time I read this article, I believe I misunderstood Ms. Wood’s quote— I thought she was referring to the students defending their freedom of speech and right to chant.

Kudos to those students attempting to resolve the issue before it gets worse!

kgotthardt, at 3:50 pm EST on November 15, 2007

Click on the third link down from the top of this story. Elizabeth Redden chose probably the least offensive quote possible from student writer Alex Cortes’ opinion piece. “I’m just expressing my religiously informed political views that it’s wrong to act homosexual,” is one thing he said.

He also said, “This University has completely disregarded the religiously and politically-minded like myself who say the chant out of disgust for the gay lifestyle and support for our natural heterosexuality given to us by God.”

And: “As a Catholic I believe in natural law — morality derived from the nature of human beings. With this belief in mind, man was made to become one with his female counterpart in the act of intercourse for the purpose of procreation. That is how we were intelligently designed by God and thus are to live. Any deviation from natural law, like homosexuality, is in effect saying that God created us wrong and is sinful.”

There’s more, so go read it for yourselves.

Philip, at 7:20 pm EST on November 15, 2007

Alex Cortez makes no sense.

Homosexuality is an inborn sexual orientation. It is not a choice and does not depend on any particular behavior.

If by “political correctness” he means showing basic human decency and respect in an university environment then I am definitely politically correct and proud of it.

People used to use religion as justification for segregation and laws banning interracial marriage — so Mr. Cortez is not too bright.

G., at 7:20 pm EST on November 15, 2007

NOT GAY

If I am accepted into the University of Virginia, I will scream “NOT GAY” every time we sing the Good Ol’ Song. Screw political correctness, it is ruining our society. I am not gay, therefore I am stating a fact. Also, I am against homosexuals due to my Christian values.

John, at 7:20 pm EST on November 15, 2007

i just think people should stop making such a big deal about the word ‘gay’, in the song it means being happy, not a homosexual. stop the drama

xxx, at 7:20 pm EST on November 15, 2007

irony

There are 75 references to alcohol in the bible, all condoning and forbidding its use, including:

Genesis 9:20-26 — Noah became drunk; the result was immorality and family trouble.

Genesis 19:30-38 — Lot was so drunk he did not know what he was doing; this led to immorality

Leviticus 10:9-11 — God commanded priests not to drink so that they could tell the difference between the holy and the unholy

Deuteronomy 32:33 — Intoxicating wine is like the poison of serpents, the cruel venom of asps.

Proverbs 23:29-30 — Drinking causes woe, sorrow, fighting, babbling, wounds without cause and red eyes.

Proverbs 23:31 — God instructs not to look at intoxicating drinks.

Proverbs 23:34 — Alcohol makes the drinker unstable

Isaiah 24:9 — Drinkers cannot escape the consequences when God judges.

Isaiah 28:3 — Proud drunkards shall be trodden down

Daniel 5:4 — Drinking wine was combined with praising false gods.

Daniel 5:23 — God sent word to Belshazzar that punishment would be swift for the evil he had committed.

I just love selective morality....

g in CA, at 7:20 pm EST on November 15, 2007

Last Person Standing ...

Let’s see, “We come from old Virginia ...Where all is bright and gay” ... and H.J. wants us to substitute “Where all is bright ... Hey!” Whew! That’s really quite awful, isn’t it?

As long as we’re taking a silly route like that, I suggest, “We come from dear Virginia ...The home of old T.J.” Naw, that won’t work either ... some PC-ers will object to U.Va. being identified with a fornicator ... or a slave holder ... or a deist. Ouch!

And then Patrick Lee called Virginia “the bastion of southern gentlemen.” I suppose he meant “southern gentlepersons,” don’t you?

Of course there’s Sad to be Affiliated with U.Va, [because it harbors so many booze hounds]. I’m guessing Sad attended classes with his fellow Wahoos back in the all-too-recent past when it enrolled no women nor minority students ... and certainly no gays.

Then P. Fox, sensitive guy (or gal) that s/he is, asks Alex Cortes, the first-year student who wrote “Not gay and proud of it” not to be ashamed of that viewpoint. And all this time I have been saying about myself, “Not left-handed and proud of it.” Damn, these guys (or gals) bring out the genius in me.

Assistant Professor takes the cake, seeing something on the order of intellectual accomplishment oozing from these circumstances, S/he says “... [here] is a debate [that] means that perhaps the ideals of the university and true ‘diversity of opinion’ is not completely snuffed out by political correctness.” Wow! And to think I failed to put this incident in its proper perspective.

Superman wants to substitute “brown” for “gay,” but that really destroys the rhyme. Okay, I’ll fix that by changing state universities ... but just a little bit. How about “We come from dear old Morgantown ...Where all of our tokens are mostly brown” And, by the way S, in this day and age you really should refer to yourself as “Superperson.”

I agree with Ellis ... our objection should not be those U.Va. students who call themselves gay (or not), but the ones who call themselves bright.

Then there’s that liberal, Bradley Bleck, who happens to admire Margaret Thatcher ... and to paraphrase him, “If a former President of the United States has to tell you s/he attend U.Va. or is not gay, both are probably false.” I love analogies!

For Yavo, I paraphrase Gertrude Stein, “There’s no their there; they’re there.”

For everyone else, I want to point out that it is fortunate for their sensitivities that they’ve been asked to critique nothing more offensive than “We come from old Virginia ...Where all is bright and gay (not gay!)” sung by drunks at football games. That’s the nature of football, a real wussy game that necessitates our spending 180 minutes suffering through a boring affair that is officially 60 minutes long, and contains, on average, a total of 14 minutes of action. The other 166 minutes entails sneaking some alcoholic beverage during “time outs” and watching the players get up off the ground, walk around, stand around, pat each other on the butt, and do other meaningless stuff.

College ice hockey is another matter altogether ... a real man’s and woman’s sport (but I wish they’d allow women to enjoy the pleasures of checking and boarding). In any event, when an opponent of the University of Michigan is guilty of slashing ... or high sticking ... or roughing ... or fighting, there is a long “Ahhhhhhhhhhh” “sung” by the fans as he skates off the ice, followed by “C-Ya!” as he steps into the penalty box. Then that is followed by a very large assortment of stone sober, Yost Arena fans shouting in remarkable unison, “Chump, dick, wuss, douche bag, asshole, prick, cheater, bitch, whore, slut, cocksucker.” Each year, the students add another epitaph to the list. It caused a problem of sorts at Yost inasmuch as more than a few parents were uncomfortable bringing their kids to games (not that there is ever less than a completely sold-out house there).

The NCAA finally stepped in and informed Michigan that the Wolverines would be banned from post season play if they did not curtail the “profane” exuberance of their fans. “Bright and gay” indeed!

Frizbane Manley, at 9:15 pm EST on November 15, 2007

Under God

When I recite the Pledge of Allegiance, I refrain for saying “under God” because it conflicts with my beliefs. Perhaps Mr Cortez should do the same and shut his mouth during the “and gay” part of the song.

hoobie, alumnni at UVA, at 9:45 am EST on November 16, 2007

NOT GAY? GOOD FOR YOU!

This whole debate is ridiculous.

As a gay man, and a UVa Alum (CLAS ‘94), I am disgusted that this debate is still going on. I was gay and out while at UVa. Not once did I experience direct discrimination, although I’m sure there was plenty of it behind my back. But that’s life. Who cares? As long as you are not getting in my way, think what you want and even say what you want.

I went to only 3 football games during my 4 years at UVa and they were all during my 1st year (we were, after all, #1 for like 2 weeks in 1990!). I was told it was an absolute must. So I went. I quickly realized it was a huge waste of my time and moved on to focus on my academics and social life outside of the sports/greek arena, and had a wonderful 4 years in Charlottesville. Nothing but good memories all around.

In any case, besides all the rampant ridiculous alcohol abuse at these games, I remember the chant of course, I have memorized it, what UVa student hasn’t? And yes, I heard the “Not Gay” chants every single time...usually they came from a small group and never did it feel overwhelming or scary. I never felt oppressed or disturbed by it as a gay man.

All I thought was.."Wow! Look at that bunch of ignorant drunks! Aren’t they funny!” And then I’d think to myself..I know half those guys that just yelled “Not Gay!” and I have proof that they are totally closeted homos who suck each other off at their frat parties anyway. Their chant is not a reflection on me, but rather, makes them look like the ignorant, closeted clowns they are. They actually make out Gay people like me look GOOD! :) You don’t hear us chanting.."To Hell With Straight People!” at those games do you?

That’s what I thought. And it worked for me!

I mean what better way to allow them the free speech and the opportunity to make total asses of themselves (and hypocrites in some cases), while allowing me to have a perfectly nice laugh about it, enjoy the game and realize that life is full of ignorant bigots.

What’s new? Move on—don’t let someone else’s backwards, ridiculous, close-minded views stop YOU from living your life.

Would I rather those clowns knew better and kept their mouth shut? Sure, but that isn’t going to make them see their ignorance.

This message is really more for any gay students that might be at UVa now. I don’t care about the Straight Folk..they’ve got lots of support. Those of us that are Gay, we need to realize that a large majority of straight people are ok with us..it’s just a stupid ignorant minority that think otherwise. Let them.

The key is not to focus on those people, they are a lost cause and dieing breed anyway. Their day has come and their numbers dwindle with each new generation.

The key is to focus on those who are not chanting “NOT GAY", and realize that in a University the size of TJ’s Academical Village, there is indeed room for us all, even the theatre lovin’, musical theatre flamer like myself! Eventually, the good people will prevail and a small band of ignorant clowns will be, well..just that.

WAHOOWA!

Stefan Sittig, at 10:20 am EST on November 16, 2007

Our Catholic chaplain wrote a response to the student who decided they were acting as a Christian when they participated in the “not gay” chant. It’s available on the opinion page of the Cav Daily website.

http://www.cavalierdaily.com/CVArticle.asp?ID=31745&pid=1654

HoosCatholic, at 11:50 am EST on November 16, 2007

I’m really sad that Alex has, and many like him, made Christians out to be so closed minded. Seeing the words, “I smell the stench of religious bigotry,” really cuts to my core. That is not what being a Christian means.

C-ville resident, at 11:55 am EST on November 16, 2007

tempest in a teapot

From my experience in Scott Stadium, is the result of a minority of folks who chant this at games. It’s the work of a couple hundred 18-22 year old frat boys who think they’re being funny/cute/clever.

I compare this to the story we see once or twice a year when a fraternity or sorority at some southern school thinks it’s funny to have a themed halloween party or mixer where kids dress like pimps, rappers or in some other lame stereotype featuring blackface. It’s stupid and ignorant — but it’s hardly worthy of this level of attention.

Anonymous UVa grad, at 1:05 pm EST on November 16, 2007

Homophobia is insecurity about your heterosexuality

This is why my first UVA football game was also my last. Hate speech should not be condoned at these events.

Shannon Shiflett, Programmer/Analyst at University of Virginia, at 2:45 pm EST on November 16, 2007

Not Gay

I graduated from the University in ‘99 and recall a simliar campaign where student on the last home game of the season (where we clobbered UNC) were asked to wear “Not Gay” stickers with a red circle and a line through it. It’s sad to think that in the 8 years since I left the University, they have made such little progress on having students at one of the most reputable institutes of higher education THINK about what they are saying when they say NOT GAY. Having grown up in a rural, conservative Southern town, it did not strike me as odd or out of place people would yell “NOT GAY” after that line of the Good Ole Song. Now that I’m a little older, a little wiser and a little more exposed to the real world, it still upsets me that a school I am so proud to have graduated from hasn’t really graduated from such juvenile practices.

I’ll always be proud to be a Wahoo and this certainly doesn’t make me regret having gone there. I figured out who I was there and am quite proud to say that I come from ole Virginia where all was bright and VERY GAY.

As for Mr. Cortes, if he wishes to go to a school where his moral superiority is appreciated, maybe he should have attended Liberty University and not a public institute that uses my very gay tax dollars to keep him in textbooks and bow ties.

Britton Davis, at 2:45 pm EST on November 16, 2007

I’m a recruiter for a major investment bank. It astounds me that in this day and age a school that I thought was one of the top institutions of higher learning appears to be accepting a bunch of bigotted idiots and their completely unacceptable behavior. To the students at UVA: you do in fact have freedom of speech and we, your prospective employers, have the right to not recruit at your school — think about it.

IBK, at 2:45 pm EST on November 16, 2007

After watching all of the comments made before mine, here is how I view it. For the few people that attended that university back in the 90’s or before who happen to be gay/lesbian I think you ought to re-think your stance. The language here for the use of the word was once acceptable within a society where gay was a word with one intended meaning. Over time we have associated that word in an entire different meaning. So because of that no matter how drunk or inebriated the natives are if they are bigoted they are going to be bigoted no mtter what they say or sing. However, since the very fabric of our society has enforced (in the past) the way the negativity that surrounds that word is presented it should not be condoned. The more influential youths that are attending this school are most likely going to go along with the majority. I feel that if this language is no longer tolerated we have that much more of a chance to minimize the sterotypical thinking and behavior going from that university to the real world. Once those students who have learned to respect others around them in the university will hopefully maintain the same pattern of thinking when they are in the real world. After all the younger a mind is fertile; so why not plant the seeds of acceptance, as opposed to the seeds of bigotry? I believe that would help to change society for the better once they are a permanent fixture in our world.

Jystiinn Summers, at 9:40 pm EST on November 16, 2007

What a difference right in the middle of America!

Let’s see...this week at Ohio State, President E. Gordon Gee came to a GLBT alum/faculty/staff/community evening mixer and spoke to hundreds of out and proud Columbus, Ohio/OSU GLBT people. Earlier in October, he was one of thousands of signers of the 2 full page National Coming Out Day advertisement in the Lantern. Most recent past-president Karen Holbrook rode as grand marshall in our Gay Pride parade. We have a GLBT Alumni Society which has endowed over $1M in scholarships for students and is acknowledged as one of the best of our alum groups. Oh, I could go on and on about our domestic partner benefits, multicultural center, etc etc. GLBT people here are HUGE fans of our football team and I can pretty confidently say that if something similar was happening here in the heartland it would not be tolerated for a moment by the administration. I’m sorry to read about this happening at U. Va and being tolerated. No sense of decency or respect or commity for others. Change the song already! Obviously, the word ‘gay’ does not mean happy anymore. And to the student Cortes point re “suffocation.” What is suffocating America is lack of tolerance and respect for each other. Don’t use religion as an excuse to treat others poorly. Better yet, don’t be religious at all! And to the contrarian law student being peevish and chanting “not gay” because someone told him not to...typical! Go Bucks! :)

I bleed scarlet and gay, Gay Employee at The Ohio State University, at 9:40 pm EST on November 16, 2007

Perplexed Catholic

I’ve followed this topic and read all the posts so far and I’ve been thinking about how to comment on it. Scarlet and Grey just gave me an opportunity and I think I have to take it.

I agreed with quite a bit of their post and then they went and said “better yet, don’t be religious at all". To me that is just as intolerant and hurtful a comment as the “Not Gay” comment would be to gays and implies that all people who have strong religious convictions are homophobic bigots. My Catholic faith has formed me and made me the person I am for better and for worse. To ask me or any other religious person to turn their back on religion would be the same as telling someone not to be gay.

With that said, my religion teaches me to be kind to everyone and not be deliberately hurtful. Therefore, my feeling on the chant; the original cause for discussion is that it should be done away with.

TA, at 9:40 am EST on November 17, 2007

Not Bright.

That’s a perfect chant. Or, simply stop the song at that line and start chanting, USA! USA! USA!

The apologist for using every opportunity to hate on gay people should just break out the Confederate flag, too, and make sure no one is denied the opportunity to feel hated and excluded at sporting events.

USA! USA! USA!

bambambam, at 12:00 pm EST on November 18, 2007

Lesbian Alum

I’m an out lesbian UVA Class of ‘89. Out gay students argued with Bible thumpers on campus, we were radical to come out in Women’s studies classes by wearing a gay right T-shirt, and our GLB (since there was no GLBT then) dance posters were ripped off of the student union building. Gay professors were closeted back then, men and women. It wasnt just miserable to be Gay back then on campus — it was miserable to be anything but white. Yet the GLBT students at Virginia are some of the most fierce, radical devoted activists that I know. Gay women I know were threatened with disownment and estrangement. Gay professors snuck around and could not support the out students. If you want to change Virginia you have got to start supporting the families and the faculty who must deal with society’s judgement and IGNORANCE. Start setting aside finding for PFLAG meetings, start from the top down. YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE! The resources are out there — you just may have to step outside of your little Southern plantation to find them.

N.A., at 11:25 am EST on November 19, 2007

What will UVA students do when singing “Deck the Halls"? After all, the lyric goes: “Don we now our gay apparel..”

Carol Anne, at 9:00 am EST on November 29, 2007

This is treating the symptom and not the disease. Not saying “Not Gay” isn’t going to change anyone’s opinions on gay rights. Even considering people who shout it because other people are shouting it it’s not like those people are going to hear “not gay” and think “what a great argument I will now change my opinion to think that homosexuality is wrong.” They might say “not gay” to go along with the crowd at the game, but what ever their opinion of homosexuality is hearing that chant isn’t going to change it.

Annon, at 4:30 pm EST on November 22, 2008

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