by Travis Woodland and SODA
You know, sometimes it’s easy to say you like homos, and sometimes it’s not. I don’t mean “like” like – that’s always hard. Ask a homo. They’ll tell you.
The Sexual Orientation Diversity Alliance (SODA) recently asked its fellow law students to show a little support for their gay brethren by wearing denim on April 18. “Why denim?” you may have asked yourself. The simple answer is this: to trick you. No, really. If you wore jeans, you like gays (and lesbians, bisexuals, and transgendereds).
Obviously the last sentence was a lie. Denim does not make anyone a liker of anything but denim. The real purpose behind the “Day of Silence” (jeans day) was to get people to think. That might seem an anachronism in a law school, but it really isn’t. How many times since your first day in this building have you thought about how your actions and words affect other people, and not just those that SODA tries to represent? I certainly don’t very often.
It’s a small world here at UI-Law, and nobody wants to be left out. We all make assumptions about our fellow students: Mormons, Catholics, atheists, African Americans, Asians, gays, ex-military, men, women, drinkers, druggies, sobers, parents, bachelors(and ettes), socialites, quiet people – all of them. I’ll let you in on a poorly kept secret: Few of those assumptions are true.
Asking people to wear denim might seem like a strange segue into the whole “when you assume you make an ass out of you and me” argument, but it really isn’t. The clothes someone wears can lead to just as many assumptions about a person as any other aspect of their life. Jeans represent comfort, the fashion equivalent of feeling like you belong and aren’t going to be singled out based on someone’s assumptions about you. How comfortable would you be in your favorite pair of denim if it became the new ‘gay thing’ to wear? Besides, we couldn’t have asked you to dress up in suits; many students won’t even do that for the Idaho Supreme Court.
Nearly everyone in the law school donned their Silvertabs, Tuffskins, and Gap relaxed fits, with a few notable exceptions. To those who wrote their feelings about gay rights, even those whose feelings don’t embrace the ideals of SODA: thank you. The point of having discussions about human rights, gay or otherwise, isn’t to force a viewpoint on someone; it is to ask people to think about why they feel how they do. Much like faith, an opinion is only worth something if can withstand test and attack.
Unfortunately, some of our students chose not to wear denim. I don’t mean that they forgot and wore dress pants because they always do. Some people (you know who you are – and so do we), always wear jeans; just not on a day when wearing jeans might make people think they supported the homos. However, their fears were unfounded: there is no way any of us would have thought you supported gay rights. But, thanks for the brutal honesty.
Don’t worry, the gays don’t hate you. In fact, you may find yourself getting a little more gay attention in your life than you want because you just became one of SODA’s top priorities. This is one closet you can’t go back into.
By the way, if anyone wants to have a day to celebrate the rights of heterosexuals, SODA will be on board. Just let us know what to wear. I suggest a nice pair of tight wranglers.
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7 comments:
Trent,
Thanks for the comment, and the compliment.
I do see your point, but let me clarify the paragraphs you cited. There's only so much room in an Interalia column to explain yourself, after all.
There are individuals in our school that have made it clear through their actions and words that they are not in support of gay rights. That's fine. It's their prerrogative to choose what they will support or won't support based on their values.
However, in the interest of creating an actual dialogue between students that don't support homosexuals and those who would like them to, SODA plans to try and focus some of it's attention on those whose opinions we'd like to change.
While we might get lucky and be proven wrong about our 'assumptions,' those assumptions are all we have to start with. It is just as likely that some of the people that wore jeans don't support gay rights and happened to wear jeans that day. Maybe it's just our bad luck they weren't 'smoked out' with our tricky ploy.
And yes, some 'gay attention' will be given to those that we've attributed homophobe status. It will be benign attention, but attention nonethless. As I said before, maybe we'll be proven wrong about each of those people. I hope so. Maybe we'll even make asses out of ourselves. But I don't mind looking like an ass too much as long as it gets people talking about things that matter.
The end result is this: There's no reason to have SODA if we can't at least try to engage in an open dialogue between people who support alternative sexuality and those who don't. By having days like 'jeans day,' it gives people an opportunity (or an exucse) to talk about things that normally go unsaid and to test their opinions, fears, and prejudices against those of others. Subsequent 'reminders' like an Interalia article, even with some poorly chosen phrases sprinkled in, create even more chance for dialogue.
Trent,
OK. One last thing (unless you want to respond and give me more to write about):
I get the fact that there's a lot of people who's mind you'll never change. Half of my family is mormom. Half is non-practicing Methodist. So believe me, I know when how it feels to try and convince someone to change their beliefs, whether based on religious faith, facts, "facts," or just plain stubborn nothingness. I also know that saying nothing and pretending that there's no tension or occaisional misundertanding makes no sense at all.
That's why it isn't worthless to try.
Mormons and other religion groups send out missionaries in droves knowing that's a fact. So I appreciate the warning, but try we will.
That said, thanks for your honesty. I also understand how difficult it can be to have viewpoints opposed to those in your religious/family circles. The fact that you aren't afraid to say you believe something other than the mainstream point of view is great. And it probably shows that you think about what you believe, and that makes it worth believing.
I'll try and smile at you next time you're in the hallway. Maybe you'll even get a 'HI.'
Travis
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