“This was not the first time these men, armed with signs, props and their narrow-minded beliefs, had come to proselytize gay people on campus. But USC students wouldn't have it.

“Students nearby were promoting a different message - one of acceptance and unity as part of National Coming Out Week. 

“Five-hundred T-shirts with the words, ‘Gay? Fine by me’ sprawled across the front flew off Program Board's table in just 15 minutes.

“Students, both gay and straight, proudly wore the shirts; some followed with pink signs and marched up to the protestors, questioning and challenging intolerance at its human roots.

“They demonstrated that straight people can have gay pride, too. On Wednesday, October 10th people of different sexual orientations loudly proclaimed that ‘USC will not tolerate homophobia’. 

“If we are to say that gay really is fine by us, we need to prove it all the time - not only when two men shout so loudly that we are forced to take a stand.

“By recognizing and rejecting homophobia's more subtle, everyday forms, we affirm the gay community's vital place in the USC and human communities as a whole.” 

[from the website of the University of Southern Carolina’s Daily Trojan student newspaper] 

~ Read about the Fine By Me project at www.finebyme.org