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It is a beautiful autumn afternoon in
Charlottesville, Virginia, and Tyree Foreman has just scored the
game-clinching touchdown against conference rival Maryland. As with
every other home team touchdown celebration in Scott Stadium, the
crowd celebrates with a rendition of "Good Old Song" - a
long-standing tradition that goes back generations.
One of the lines in the song goes:
"We come from
Old Vir-Gin-I-A,
Where all is bright and gay."
The contextual meaning of gay here, of course,
is "happy." However, since the late 1970s, many in the
student body have felt the need to emphatically declare their
heterosexuality by adding a chant:
"We come from
Old Vir-Gin-I-A,
Where all is bright and gay.
Not gay!"
This, of course, while every fraternity
brother in the stands is locked in embrace watching guys in tight
pants pile up on each other on the field.
The Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgendered (LGBT)
Union on campus has long fought against the "not gay"
"tradition", saying that it sends a message to the
community that being gay is not OK. Given the limited number of
openly gay students, and a general lack of respect on campus for the
LGBT, the cries have fallen on deaf ears and the
"tradition" continues every time the home football team
scores.
But now, the few openly gay students at UVA
have some surprising allies that are bringing "Not Gay" to
the forefront of the University’s internal discussions and are
raising awareness about compassion and respect for gay students at
Virginia.
Kyle Singer, 20, was incensed at a column in
the school’s student paper, The Cavalier Daily, in the beginning
of April that defended the "not gay" cheer. The columnist
claimed it was the same thing as saying "like Monopoly"
after the line in Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer that goes,
"they never let poor Rudolph join in any reindeer games."
 Singer
(left) is a sophomore at UVA. He’s from the liberal state of
Minnesota, where his parents taught him to respect everyone,
including gay people. He’s also one of the two starting goalies on
the school’s storied soccer team which has won five National
Championships since 1989. He’s also straight.
"It was the most ignorant article I'd
ever read in my life," said Singer. "The idea that people
could be so ignorant - I just couldn't understand it."
Singer had known of the issue since he started
at UVA two years ago, but the article showed him how intolerant the
student body still was. He went to the Student-Athlete Mentor (SAM)
Council and urged them to take a stand against the "not
gay" cheer. With SAM, he is now leading the charge among
student-athletes to eradicate the "not gay" cheer from
football games.
He and other members of SAM are circulating a
petition to student-athletes in every sport. The petition asks the
student body to refrain from celebrating the school’s athletic
accomplishments with the cheer, which in their minds only divides
the student body. They are asking every varsity athlete to sign it.
"When I first brought the petition to my
teammates," Singer said, "they thought it was a joke. They
just laughed." Most of them have come around. Some still have
not.
"As an athlete, there's a stigma that you
have to be a man's man." Guys are trying to be cool, Singer
said, and supporting gay tolerance isn’t cool. "There's a lot
of feeling among males that it's not cool to be sensitive."
Naturally, some have started whispering about
Singer.
"I think I'd be ignorant to think people
weren't questioning my sexuality. But that's fine. People can think
what they want. I don't care what they think."
Right now, he says he’s just concerned about
standing up for the rights and feelings of his fellow students at
UVA. "People didn't have to be black to be upset about slavery.
People didn't have to be Jewish to be upset about the
Holocaust." And, according to Singer, men don’t have to be
gay to be sensitive.
Singer and the other members of SAM join the
university’s Student Council in opposition to "not gay."
The Council has, for several years, tried to figure out how to stop
the chant. Making it a punishable offense would never work. A
Student Council resolution condemning the cheer, which passed in
1998, is just words on paper - and the chant continues three years
later. The hope of Singer and SAM is that their new involvement will
start to undermine the culture that supports the cheer.
"[With the signed petition] we want to
say that these are the people on the field that we're going to
celebrate, and they're not cool with the cheer." Their hope is
that, with this statement from the athletes, the traditional culture
will finally understand the harm the "not gay" cheer can
cause, and the "tradition" will go away. SAM also intends
to build a presence at the football games next September, handing
out fliers and openly encouraging fans to not say "not
gay".
So far, the response from the student-athletes
has been encouraging. Almost all of Singer’s men’s soccer team
have signed the petition. He has also heard back from several other
teams, including the men’s and women’s swim teams, that
virtually all of their members have signed the petition. He won’t
know until Friday just how many signatures they have.
Regardless, getting students to stop the cheer
will be no small feat. According to Kate Ranson-Walsh, 20, the
university's LGBT Union president, the University of Virgina didn’t
even have an LGBT Resource Center until they opened one last
October. And, being situated in the home state of anti-gay reverends
Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell also takes its toll on the overall
sentiments of the student body. The state-run University didn’t
even admit women until 1970.
But, Singer is hopeful.
"Traditions that are hurtful to people or
oppressive are made to be broken. Tradition isn't necessarily a good
thing."
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Panel
Discussion At UVA
On April 26 there
was a panel discussion at the University of
Virginia to discuss the "not gay"
issue and other issues facing gay students and athletes.
Panelists included:
Pat Griffin - Author of
"Her Story in Sports: A Historical Anthology of Women in
Sports".
Dan Veatch - Openly gay finalist in the 1998 200 meter
backstroke at the Olympic games in Seoul, Korea.
Kelly McCabe - Captain of Virginia softball team.
Kyle Singer - Sophomore goalie, Virginia men's soccer
team.
Josh Hare - Senior guard, Virginia men’s basketball
team.
Kate Ranson-Walsh - President of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual
and Transgendered Union at Virginia.
Joe Bilby - Moderator - President of Student Council.
Chip Rogers provided an overview:
The
panel was really remarkable. There were over 100 people in
attendance, including representatives from a number of
athletic teams. Dr. Griffin and Dan Veatch were both
fantastic. I didn’t realize this before the night, but it
was the first time that Dan had spoken openly to a group
about his sexuality.
The three student-athletes and the president of the LGBTU
were a great combination together. They all knew each
other--before the panel--which really I think heightened the
dynamic, because it was an old issue. There was an empty
seat that was reserved for the student-athletes who had not
come out yet, which was a pretty cool statement. Kyle, Josh,
Kelly and Kate were all very accomplished speakers, despite
the fact that Kyle swore that he was most uncomfortable
speaking in public. In any case, none of them shied away
from any questions and spoke open and honestly. The event
lasted until about 10, with Pat and Dan speaking for about
45 minutes, and then about 75 minutes of Q&A. The
audience really got into the discussion as questions came
from all quarters of the auditorium.
No question that the overriding theme of the night was
not only getting rid of the “not gay” chant but also
addressing the overall question of homophobia in athletics.
All the panelists called for a general commitment on the
part of coaches and athletes and administrators to provide a
safe and friendly atmosphere for gay student-athletes to be
able to come out if they so chose. Creating a positive
dialogue was the first step, not just at Virginia, but at
athletic programs across the nation.
I can’t thank enough the panelists for coming to speak
and put themselves in front of their peers and address an
issue that is quickly gaining momentum both in the NCAA and
across the nation’s interest. Interestingly this is the
20th anniversary of women’s athletics an the NCAA this
year. Already we have done a number of celebrations honoring
this milestone. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if by the time
the next 20 years rolls around this, too, will be a dead
topic! |
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