What makes two people caring for each other so scandalous..
I'm sitting at work. I hear talks of two people with anti-gay signs in the quad. There are words of some people crowding around.
I leave work, cut across the quad like usual, and see a ridiculous amount of people gathered around. At this point, I immediately decide there's no way in hell I'm going to class. I'm absolutely fascinated by whats going on. Its amazing to see everyone rally together and show such a mass amount of support.
First thing I think to do is call Brittany (my roommate) to make sure she gets down to be a part of this. For something that hits so close to home for her, I knew she'd want to support the cause. She gets there, and we decide to stop being spectators, make some signs, and join the center of the group.
There were people taking pictures left and right. Brittany got interviewed for someones documentary. It was great to see the campus unify to send out a message to those who this does affect directly - those people may use religion as a means of being close minded, but that's not how most people feel. The sentiment was there. The message was clear. It makes me love Oneonta all over again.
The woman to works at the gender resource center was a messenger between the two sides. She managed to organize a sort of Q & A session. Both sides got their chance to speak. No ones minds were changed, but arguments were laid out in a peaceful manner and there was as much respect between the two sides as there possibly could be in a situation like that. That went on for a little while, and it came time to decide a next step. We could either continue with the conversation, go back to chanting and speaking through our signs and emotional support, or we could opt to leave. Feeling that we've done as much as we could, we choose to prove one more point and leave - letting them know that they're message only brought us closer together.
I'm sure that's exactly how they wanted things to play out. I'm sure more people crowded around after I had left. All I know is that it was something really cool that I got to be a part of. There's no telling if I'll ever have an experience like that again, but I'm happy to have been part of it today.
My bad-ass sign :)
I leave work, cut across the quad like usual, and see a ridiculous amount of people gathered around. At this point, I immediately decide there's no way in hell I'm going to class. I'm absolutely fascinated by whats going on. Its amazing to see everyone rally together and show such a mass amount of support.
First thing I think to do is call Brittany (my roommate) to make sure she gets down to be a part of this. For something that hits so close to home for her, I knew she'd want to support the cause. She gets there, and we decide to stop being spectators, make some signs, and join the center of the group.
There were people taking pictures left and right. Brittany got interviewed for someones documentary. It was great to see the campus unify to send out a message to those who this does affect directly - those people may use religion as a means of being close minded, but that's not how most people feel. The sentiment was there. The message was clear. It makes me love Oneonta all over again.
The woman to works at the gender resource center was a messenger between the two sides. She managed to organize a sort of Q & A session. Both sides got their chance to speak. No ones minds were changed, but arguments were laid out in a peaceful manner and there was as much respect between the two sides as there possibly could be in a situation like that. That went on for a little while, and it came time to decide a next step. We could either continue with the conversation, go back to chanting and speaking through our signs and emotional support, or we could opt to leave. Feeling that we've done as much as we could, we choose to prove one more point and leave - letting them know that they're message only brought us closer together.
I'm sure that's exactly how they wanted things to play out. I'm sure more people crowded around after I had left. All I know is that it was something really cool that I got to be a part of. There's no telling if I'll ever have an experience like that again, but I'm happy to have been part of it today.
My bad-ass sign :)