Ohio University junior Nicole Long will not stand for being considered a Second Class Citizen.
In an effort to raise awareness about Issue 1, Long, the Swarm of Dykes' treasurer, came up with the newest fashion statement on campus when she began printing the slogan Second Class Citizen on T-shirts.
The slogan just kind of came to me one day
Long said. And suddenly a small idea turned into something where we've sold almost 200 shirts.
The T-shirts say Second Class Citizen or Friend of a Second Class Citizen on the front and Defeat the Ohio Marriage Amendment Vote NO on Issue One November 2nd on the back.
Issue 1 is a proposed amendment to the Ohio state constitution to ban gay marriage.
A lot of people probably haven't even heard that it was on the ballot Long said.
The T-shirts, which sell for $8 each, send a message of Yes I'm queer
or Yes
I support LGBT people
Long said.
Though she expected only to sell about 30 shirts, Long far exceeded her goal. About half of the T-shirts sold so far were for friends of second-class citizens, she said.
Originally the T-shirts were hand-stenciled but are now screen-printed, and Long said she hopes the T-shirts will demonstrate how many people Issue 1 affects.
Long works on campus for the LGBT office and peer tutors at the writing center in Alden Library, and in her free time she is serving as a non-fiction editor for Sphere Magazine.
Long has always liked to write and wrote a non-fiction piece in Sphere Magazine about the experience of coming out to her mother.
Prior to attending OU, Long went to Friends University, in Wichita, Kan., near her hometown. She said she probably would not have gone to the school if she had known she was going to come out two weeks into the school year.
There was no gay community. Every one I knew who was gay was really
really closeted
she said.
Long decided to go to the school because it had a good clarinet teacher, but that wasn't enough
she said.
After one semester she transferred to OU, where she was amazed by the support of the LGBT community, she said.
Since then, she has continued playing the clarinet as a music major who hopes to teach at the college level and perform in symphonies as well.
It's a lot more accepting than Kansas
that's for sure
she said.
Not everyone in Kansas is as radical as Fred Phelps, who established the Westboro Baptist Church, a radical anti-gay organization that will be in Athens tomorrow protesting the opening of The Laramie Project. Phelps' radical ways turn people away, she said.
He's doing a great service by being so horrible
