A missed field goal wasn't the only nauseating thing at last Saturday's football game. Every time the crowd erupted withanother jovial rendition of the Good Ol' Song, a few fans invariably shouted "Not gay!" to announce their bigotry with pride and purpose. This gross display of backward, vulgar immaturity should stop.
Is it so uncomfortable for men to drape their arms over the shoulders of another man that they feel compelled to scream "Not gay!" and remind the people sitting next to them that they have never, ever seen a single episode of "Queer Eye," nor listened to a single Barry Manilow album, nor really enjoyed wearing pink?
We get it. You're not gay. Announcing it during the Good Ol' Song doesn't affirm anyone's opinion of your sexuality. It only affirms your lack of common decency.
People still wonder why the University can't seem to shed its reputation as a unfriendly place for certain minorities. This is why. Not only has this tradition continued as long as most students can remember, but repeated cries to end it always appear to meet deaf ears. No matter how many times this issue arises, the atmosphere at football games never changes. Needless to say, not all tradition is worth keeping.
Nevermind how much it offends people in the crowd, or the people watching our televised games, who, by the way, occasionally hear it when the student section interrupts with "Not Gay!" 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. For fans at the game, especially younger ones, the chant represents how college students behave. Not exactly a glowing advertisement for the supposed "Public Ivy."
The University's inability to curtail the chant tarnishes its reputation. And rightfully so. Even now, despite a recent Opinion column and the flyering campaign on the Lawn before the game last Saturday, public pressure to stop the chant never rises above a whisper. Students could end this as easily as they started it, but hey, we pay lip service to honor and diversity.
Haven't we evolved beyond this behavior? It's depressing to think that this editorial even needed to be written -- that at a well-regarded national University, students and fans need to be reminded that yelling homophobic slurs at football games is inappropriate. What's more depressing is that upon hearing "Not gay!" it might be of some comfort if the ones saying it seemed better suited to starring in the sequel to "Deliverance." Instead, it's average-looking students playing the part in real life.
Real leadership from students and alumni would be to decry the practice and publicly shame anyone who does it, rather than bicker over whether students ought to wear ties or orange shirts.
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