Posters Promoting 'Straight Pride' Week Appear On Ohio Campus

[DonViejo]

Source: ASSOCIATED PRESS

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (AP) — Posters promoting a "straight pride" week at a northeast Ohio university have been removed after student leaders said the message went beyond free speech.

Youngstown State University student government leaders tell WKBN-TV they decided to remove the posters after consulting with university officials.

The posters were hung around campus earlier this week. They included profanity and promoted the event as a time to not highlight sexual orientation or differences among students. They encouraged students to "go about your day without telling everyone about how 'different' you are."

A university spokesman tells WFMJ-TV that the posters counter the school's mission of diversity. Officials are investigating possible student code violations. A statement from the student government said while it respects free speech rights, the posters missed the point of activism.

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Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/straight-pride-week-youngstown-state-university

[candelista]

1. Isn't the test "clear and present danger"?

Maybe NE Ohio University has stricter guidelines, based on their property rights.

[Buzz Clik]

4. Could you please clarify?

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. Reaction to “Straight Pride Week” Fliers Raises Constitutional Questions

Reaction to “Straight Pride Week” Fliers Raises Constitutional Questions

[treestar]

3. lol I guess it was just a matter of time

after White Pride and MRA stuff.

[SoapBox]

5. More like they're trying to make double sure that they're straight...

'Cause they're not sure!

[closeupready]

8. Uh, yep. Was gonna say, posters signed by

"The Closeted Gay - Openly Straight Students Alliance".

[Botany]

6. The President of YSU* although conservative is very pro gay civil rights

Some people need to find others to "hate on" because that gives them a
sense of being. As an old white straight guy I found that putting down my
young and dumb dislike for gays and going along w/gay bashing many years
ago very liberating. If you want to see "straight pride" on and around a college
campus you can see all the straight couples you want walking around campus,
at the bars, and in the dorms.

* Former OSU Football Coach Jim Tressel

What would the reaction be to an openly gay Buckeye player, he was asked.

“One, we are a family. If you haven’t learned from your family at home that people have differences and those strengthen the whole, then you are hopefully going to learn it as part of the Ohio State football family,” Tressel wrote.

“Two, every part of our team is important and every role has value – no job is too small and no person is irrelevant – that’s a great lesson that transcends into society. When I think of the diversity we’ve had on our team the past few years, it goes way beyond just a racial, sexual or ethnic mix. We’ve had players who had different religions, players who came from different economic backgrounds, players who are parents, who are spouses, who are caring for ailing parents, who are wheelchair bound, who are battling cancer, and on and on.

“Whatever a young man feels called to express, I hope we will help him do it in a supportive environment. Everybody is important, and maturity is learning to find and appreciate those differences in others.”

http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news?slug=dw-tressel030810

[closeupready]

7. Bizarre. Some kind of weird self-repression psychology

behind this, as we've seen in similar drives in the past.

[LanternWaste]

9. In the U.S. at least, each year is already comprised of 52 consecutive Straight Pride weeks

In the U.S. at least, each year is already comprised of 52 consecutive Straight Pride weeks. I guess this half-wit want an official 53rd week added.

[MrModerate]

10. It strikes me -- just reading what's here and in a couple of other links . . .

That the posters, while dickish, were not hate speech as I understand the term. (I haven't found a copy of the poster I can actually read, so it's hard to tell whether the language is threatening or not, but what I can reads seems to be within the bounds.)

Perhaps an overreaction from the student government that could as easily have issued a statement opposing the poster's viewpoint.