Students protest opinion piece
Voices silent, mouths gagged with rope – students stood hand-in-hand outside Hughes-Trigg Student Center and on the main quad for two hours Wednesday in a silent protest against intolerance and hate.
“Shut your mouth and open your mind,” read the sign held up by one of the protestors on the march towards Hughes Trigg. The silent protestors wore ropes tied around their mouths to symbolize their peaceful demonstration for the equal rights of all human beings and to demonstrate non-judgment.
“We are protesting the opinion that basically if you’re not like us, you need to leave,” said senior theatre major Harrison Ford, who organized the protest.
Protestors wore white T-shirts with messages that individually labeled them. According to Ford, the meaning of the labels varied from how people viewed themselves to how they were perceived by others. He said the labels, which included “Christian homo,” “Bisexual Wiccan” and “Human,” did not make the person who he or she is, but merely represented an element of the person.
Music major Conroy Cupido chose to wear a plain white T-shirt to represent himself. “There’s so many things you could stand for…at least by leaving it as a blank slate, you leave them questioning,” he said. Cupido said his goal was to stand up against apathy on campus and get people thinking about the issue of discrimination.
Before walking en masse to the student center, Ford thanked students and faculty gathered at the Owen fine Arts Center for attending.
“Gay, Straight, whatever you are I thank you for being here. You were brave enough to come out and I commend you,” Ford said. He also warned the protestors they may encounter comments of hate during the demonstration, but the one rule was to be silent.
“If you don’t hear us, you’ll see us,” he said.
Protestors held signs that said “Tolerate THIS” and “How’s this for an Inferiority Complex?” as well as a blown-up copy of Joel Sartain’s commentary “Gays, the new Jews?!?” which acted as the catalyst for the event.
“We all respect and honor the right to free speech and the fact that newspapers are supposed to express opinions, but we feel like this opinion is full of hate speech. So we’re protesting, basically, his [Sartain’s] hate speech,” said Ford. He said the protest was not against The Daily Campus for printing the commentary, but rather against messages of hate and intolerance.
Professor George Henson, whose office door was vandalized with the word “faggot” scrawled on his Allies (an organization for the equality of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender members of the SMU community) sticker in black marker, stood with the protestors for a portion of the demonstration. He said he thought the timing of the protest was relevant to the holy week preceding Easter.
“Easter is a symbol of renewal and rebirth,” Henson said. He continued that the holy week is a time for people to contemplate their sins.
During the first hour, nearly 60 protestors held hands in a large circle on the southwest corner of Hughes-Trigg. After breaking apart into small groups, they migrated to the main quad where they eventually held hands to form a straight line, all facing Bishop Boulevard. The protestors did not speak from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
One goal of protestors was to encourage diversity on campus, from nationality to sexuality. “Separating people of different demographics is not a good idea,” said first-year bystander Kathryn New. “Separate but equal doesn’t work.”
“I think it [the protest] certainly raises awareness about sexual orientation issues. And that it’s not just something that is relevant to lesbian, gay and bisexual students, but that everyone here, straight students alike, are impacted when there’s intolerance in our comm
unity,” said Women’s Center coordinator and Allies coordinator Dr. Courtney Aberle. She said in her five years at SMU, she had not experienced a great deal of intolerance from students or faculty until the vandalism occurred on Henson’s door.
Sophomore and silent protestor Matt Walfish believed that this protest was an amazing opportunity to silently stand up for who he is and what he believes in.
“It is so important to stand up for equal rights. The way the opinion article was written in response to Professor Henson’s article became very offensive. SMU is generally a conservative campus and I am glad to be given the opportunity to stand up for who I am,” Walfish said.
Henson paralleled the struggle for gay rights with the civil rights movement. The primary difference, he said, is that blacks could not hide “the object of their discrimination,” while people can conceal their sexuality if they choose. “I’m a firm believer that no one is going to give you your eyes; you have to stand up and demand them,” he said.
Henson is optimistic about the future of acceptance in this country. He said 20 years ago there would have been no reaction to the slur written on his door.
In regard to the recent immigration rallies, he said, “I’d like to think a new civil rights movement is happening in the United States.” He said it will take time for homophobia to disseminate since it has not been dealt with in this country for as long as racism.
“We’re not going to blend in; we’re not going to go away; we’re not going to tolerate intolerance,” Henson said.
Many SMU students wandered by the protest, viewing signs reading “Equal rights include gay rights!” and an enlarged version of the opinion piece entitled “Gays, the new Jews?”
Bystander, senior Elizabeth Thornhill stood wide-eyed with admiration as she witnessed the protest and decided to join the peaceful circle for equal rights.
“This is great!” she exclaimed as she walked over to join the silence, “People at SMU don’t tend to take an active stance on issues so this is awesome to see on our campus.”
Junior Selidji Houechenou noted the importance of standing up for diversity as she voiced her opinion on the protest.
“This silent protest is such a good thing to do. People need to be aware that this world is so diverse. You are blinding yourself if you cannot recognize that everyone is so different and should be praised for their differences.”
Aberle recognized that all students were entitled to their opinions on sexual orientation issues, but she stressed the importance of respecting the safety of all students on campus.
“If one person saw and thought about it, we were successful,” Ford said. He said diversity is “a reflection of the human spirit’s journey,” and that “tolerance is a right.”
× Mark Norris contributed to this report.
Students protest opinion piece (All photos by Austin Kilgore, The Daily Campus)
Students protest opinion piece
