Controversy has erupted on the campus of the University of Virginia over the word "gay."
From Inside Higher Ed:
We come from old Virginia,
Where all is bright and gay.
NOT GAY!
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.
Come on folks, isn't it time to change the words to the song or just don't sing it at a football game? I'm all for tradition, but since we all know the word gay means something quite different today than it did back in 1895 and that the intention was not to say everyone in Virginia is a homosexual. I work there and go to church there; I can testify that's not the case. Singing that in an environment with college students jacked up on adreneline, testosterone, and alcohol is bound to cause trouble.
It's not about "political correctness and liberal groupthink," it's about treating each other with respect.
Sounds like a good thing to teach in college, doesn't it?
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But again, it goes to highlight the underlying homophobia in society. Why is it so necessaary to reinforce to the world that you are "not gay"? Those around you who know you will know if this is true or not. Those you do not know, why do you care?
ReplyDeleteDo schools that have a school color of black have to yell, "Not Black"? Wouldn't people find that offensive? And as far as religiously (un)informed opinions, some think that the sin of Ham, Noah's son, caused the those people to have dark skin.
Aargg!!
I was more amused by the uninformed article this guy had. His claim of how bad Jews treat gays is a example of him not knowing much. Israel is one of the champions for Gay Rights, is it perfect? No, but Gays actually have more rights in Israel than in the United States.
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