WE'VE ALL heard it, standing with linked arms after a touchdown and singing "The Good Ol' Song." The line "where all is bright and gay" comes up, and someone invariably screams "not gay!" All types of students are guilty of this action -- your fraternity brother, your girlfriend, your suite-mate or some stumbling drunken stain a few rows back. Or maybe it's you.
In the painful silence that follows, chances are that nobody will speak up. After all, who wants to be "that person" who makes a big deal at a football game? Who wants to tell one of their friends that saying the not-gay chant just isn't OK?
To put it bluntly, it is a big deal. Statistically speaking, somebody around you is gay, bisexual, questioning or has a friend, sister, parent, cousin or roommate who is. Every time someone says something homophobic, it makes the University a little less safe and comfortable for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning people and straight allies. It makes a closeted person more uncomfortable with the truth about their identity. It strengthens our community's toleration of harassment, violence and bigotry. It increases the alienation felt by a community that is already marginalized at the University and throughout Virginia.
Furthermore, it gives the University as a whole a bad reputation. In the late 1990s, when the chant was at its loudest, even television viewers could hear it behind the commentators. Alumni Hall received letters from concerned alumni threatening to withdraw support from the University. Is it worth dividing our community, marring the University and hurting our peers and friends for an immature drunken chant?
Not to be fazed, students took action to eliminate the chant. For example, Student Council created an ad-hoc committee to address the issue in 2000. The following year, Council President Abby Fifer condemned the chant in her convocation speech. In October 2001, the ACLU at U.Va. launched a flyer campaign with messages such as "Not Black," "Not Asian," "Not Jewish," to show the ridiculousness of singling out minority groups. In addition, many other student groups around Grounds launched active campaigns throughout the 2001-2002 school year to educate the University community about the pain and bigotry the chant perpetuates.
So, the question arises, what can we as students do once again to stop such a simple, yet harmful, behavior? The first and most obvious preventative measure is not to say the not-gay chant. Recognize that it is an attack on a particular minority group, unjustly singled out for harassment and discrimination.
Secondly, if you hear someone say the not-gay chant, speak up. Never underestimate the power of peer-to-peer conversation. Ask why the offender said it. Ask whether or not the offender has a friend who is LGBTQ or an ally, and how that friend would react to such an affront. Sometimes just talking with a concerned person makes a not-gay chanter realize how hurtful it is. Having a dialog about the issue is key to building a wider network of allies who reject narrow-mindedness in all its subtle forms.
Thirdly, raise your concern even when not singing "The Good Ol' Song." Talk about it in your fraternity, in your faith organization, in your residential community or in your activist group. Traditions are meant to unite the community, and when they are warped to harm others, they negatively affect the entire University community. Having this simple discussion to reflect on how the not-gay chant affects you and your group can go miles in promoting understanding, as well as furthering the goals of a particular organization.
As we approach this week's football game against the University of Connecticut, we come to a crossroads. We can choose as a community to continue this hurtful chant, or we can choose to stop it. With three football games to go, we can end the chant before the end of the regular season. The question is, do we have the courage? Are we brave enough to speak up to a friend who yells "not gay," or will we sit quietly, annoyed?
Wyatt Fore and Patrick Lee are fourth years in the College of Arts and Sciences. They are the co-chairs of the Minority Rights Coalition.
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