Photo by: Cameron Lemmon
Attempting to spread awareness and understanding of the gay community at DU, the Queer Straight Alliance hosted the “Gay? Fine by me.” T-shirt project last week.
The QSA provided free T-shirts to students throughout the week at tables located in front of Sturm Hall and on Driscoll Bridge.
Using QSA’s funding granted by the AUSA Senate, the group was able to hand out 350 free T-shirts to the students at the tables.
“I feel that the DU community was very supportive because we ran out of the T-shirts every day we handed them out in about an hour and a half,” said QSA president Christopher Turner. “We had people from administrative positions come and get T-shirts and say thank you for what we were doing.”
The group requested that students wear the shirts last Thursday, National Coming Out Day.
The baby blue shirts were also sold to various campus organizations in order to defray some of the costs of the shirts. The Center for Multicultural Excellence, the Health and Counseling Center, DU Out Laws, and Out for Businesses purchased shirts for their employees.
The annual event has steadily gained support, said Turner.
“Last year we only ordered 225 shirts, so the 475 shirts we ordered this year was a huge increase, almost doubling the amount,” Turner said. “We are showing progress, which is great. We didn’t have nearly as much funding last year.”
According to Turner, “The goal is to get as many people wearing as many T-shirts as you can just to show how many people are pro-being gay on campus.”
Turner added, “This year, the amount of people wearing the T-shirts showed that people aren’t afraid to wear the tee shirts and aren’t afraid to support the queers on campus.”
The national T-shirt project originated at Duke University in the spring of 2003, aiming to promote acceptance of diversity on the school’s campus. It has since spread throughout the world, granting participants the opportunity to publicly condemn homophobia and support equal rights.
“The T-Shirt Project is an easy way for the many, many Americans who support their LGBT friends and family to speak out,” says the program’s Web site, www.finebyme.org. Turner ordered DU’s T-shirts from the national organization at a reduced rate.
Aside from the T-shirt project, the QSA is also working to develop a Drag Show this winter and the National Day of Silence in April.
When not working to organize these events, the QSA meets weekly at 6 p.m. in the conference room behind Jazzman’s for activities such as ice cream socials, condom Olympics and movie nights.
The 20 active members in the alliance attend the meetings, enjoying a place organized to foster open communication and education, according to Turner. “[As an alliance] we aim to create a sense of inclusivity, education, and awareness to all members of the group and hopefully change the DU campus for the better,” said Turner.
