Students raise gay awareness on Valentine's Day

Sporting his "Penn Fag" sweatshirt and trademark nose ring, College senior Stephen Houghton posted his feelings about Valentine's Day on the Button yesterday morning. College junior Jen Manion accompanied Houghton. Their message was clear, spelled out in red and pink --"Love knows no gender." Manion and Houghton, inspired by Gloria Steinem's speech Monday night, had decided to make a statement. "Gloria Steinem said, 'Within the next 24 hours, do one outrageous thing for social justice,' and that's what we did," Manion said. So they spray-painted the snow behind College Hall late Monday evening, on College Green yesterday morning and taped signs on the Button in front of Van Pelt Library. Their signs -- which read "Queer Love" and "Gay still means happy"-- were meant to make gays on campus feel comfortable on the day that has historically been a "straight" celebration of sweethearts. "We're not going to let Valentine's Day be the epitome of heterosexual romance," Manion said. "We hope we made the fags and dykes on campus feel good for one day." The two students also wanted to maintain awareness within the heterosexual community of the University's gay population. "Day to day life is heterosexual," Houghton said. "People often forget about queer life on campus." Although Manion is the editor-in-chief of the women's magazine, Generation XX and Houghton is the former co-chair of the Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Alliance, they said their activity was simply a statement by two individuals. "We're not affiliated with anything," Manion said. "It's just us as individuals and queer visibility is always a plus." Shortly after signs were taped to the button, passers-by began to show an interest. "This is nice to see," said College sophomore Melissa Krakowski, who is gay. "It's so rare this year to see anything out here. It's nice to see something new and different." Others were not happy about the means of communication used. "I don't like to see the art works on campus used as bulletin boards," said Karin Schaller, a Philadelphia resident. But Manion and Houghton disagreed. "We don't see it as defacing property," Manion said. "It's campus beautification." In fact, Manion said that it is the message that matters, not the reactions to it. Houghton agreed. "One of the things Gloria Steinem said last night was 'this is a revolution, not a [public relations] movement,'" he said. "So I don't worry about alienating the few. If the message is firm, it should stand on its own." At the end of the day, the friends were happy with their work. "I stood next to the Button watching and people were reading the signs," Manion said. "So that's good. And my gay friends loved it." Houghton also felt like he had accomplished his goals for the day. "Valentine's Day is for everyone," Houghton said. "We wanted to make that clear-- and queer."

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