STUPID traditions usually have stupid beginnings. The University does not have a shortage of similar meaningless traditions, but the fact that they've earned the title of being "traditions" doesn't make them any less stupid.
All University traditions have an endearing little anecdotal beginning that is passed through generations and ingrained in the students' way of life. One such tradition, the chanting of "not gay" during home football games, is no different in having its own unique little beginning.
Once upon a time University students excited about the new football season stomped their way to the football stadium armed with only their school spirit and silver flasks. The custom of singing the "Good Ol' Song" whenever the team scored already had been established as a long-standing tradition and this game was no exception. At this particular game, however, a rather dense but friendly fourth year became perplexed at the mention of the word "gay" in the song lyrics.
"Dude, are they calling me gay? Like, I'm not gay," he murmured to himself. In order to clear up any confusion, he innocently uttered in the midst of 10,000 cheering students, "not gay." The student sitting next to him, equally baffled at this new revelation, followed suit just to make sure there was no confusion about this new rendition of "bright and gay."
Quite like the "wave" that sweeps across stadiums at such events, one by one each student inquisitively started asking "Gay? I'm not gay. Are you gay?"
Perhaps it was the influence of the magical potion that overflowed in the flasks, but all the students soon found themselves transported back in time all the way to fifth grade. The next rendition of the "Good Ol' Song" was accompanied by the ever-so-amusing chant of "not gay," and from that day forward, every time the University football team scored a touchdown, all the students of the University were eager to point out their sexual orientation.
There has been a lot of recent controversy surrounding the chant of "not gay" during home football games, and Student Council even conducted a four-month long study to assess possible solutions to the problem. It was definitely a waste of time and energy.
Unfortunately, there is no possible way to eliminate the chant of "not gay" through external control. No one can change the way people think, much less try to influence the combined speech of an entire stadium filled with happy - or "happy" for that matter - students. Just because it often brings back memories of pre-adolescence does not in any way justify the chant.
The adamant arguments for keeping the chant usually follow the same tedious line of reasoning, namely, that it is tradition and that it doesn't hurt anyone.
Hopefully, the little anecdote presented earlier should remind the student body that traditions are tradition because people choose to follow them. They follow them not because of their inherent value at the time they were started, but because traditions are fun. They make people feel like a part of something, despite the traditions' essential lack of meaning, and they make for good stories to tell the grandchildren.
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All these seem like good enough reasons to do something over and over again until it is beaten to a dead horse and enshrined as a "tradition." Some might claim it's not hurting anyone. However, whenever there is a minority in a group, and that minority is still suffering the effects of open discrimination, there is an innate unfairness when the minority is singled out. If an American were to go to Mexico and someone were to yell out "non-Mexican," there would be an obvious reason to raise eyebrows as opposed to if someone yelled "Mexican." Add to that ingredient a long line of open hatred and discrimination that transcends borders, and "not gay" doesn't seem as innocuous anymore.
Then there is always the defense of the implicit intention in chanting the slogan. Students always assert that there is no negative feeling geared toward any particular group when they yell "not gay." That is irrelevant if the effects of the action have a negative effect on the particular group. The recent controversy should illustrate that certain segments of the student body feel offended by the tradition, and that is what should be of primary importance to us as a community. The intentions are irrelevant when there is already evidence of negative feelings associated with the act.
No measures or Council studies will rectify the disunity caused by such traditions. The only foreseeable way out is to realize that, as college students, we hope to carry ourselves as more than children.
(Faraz Rana's column appears Fridays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at frana@cavalierdaily.com.)
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