ACT OUT demonstrates in Retreat

Stephen Cheng Staff Writer

ACT OUT, the student activist group that protested the U.S. military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy in New York City during the Fall 2006 semester, held a silent vigil and fundraiser in the Retreat on Feb. 22. The demonstration was held to support ACT OUT’s former president Curtis Peterson ’08, who is participating in the 2007 Soulforce Equality Ride.

The event lasted from 8:30 a.m. to 11 p.m., as students stood with strips of black tape over their mouths, distributed leaflets and button pins, and accepted donations to Equality Ride and e-mail list signatures. Hourly readings of anonymous student accounts of sexual discrimination at other schools were given as well.

The Equality Ride is a campaign sponsored by Soulforce, an LGBTQ rights advocacy outfit, in which activists travel by bus to institutions of higher education throughout the United States to protest school policies that openly discriminate against LGBTQ students on the basis of their sexuality. Fifty-two riders will travel to 32 schools via two separate routes in the second campaign attempt. Peterson will travel on the bus that will take him into the southern states.

“The point of what we’re doing here is to raise money and awareness for Soulforce’s Equalty Ride,” said ACT OUT President Judy Jarvis ’07. “We really want to support Curt Peterson. He’s devoting two months...to a mobile lifestyle. We want to support the organization and his commitment,” she said.

Regarding the open discrimination expressed towards LGBTQ students at other colleges, David Rodriguez ’08 noted, “I think we take it for granted how open our school is.”

Still, Jarvis noted the overall support of many members of the Vassar community. “It’s also important to know that in our NYC actions...how many straight allies we had,” she said. “And the freshmen. A great number of freshmen, gay and straight.”

ACT OUT activists considered the general reaction to the vigil-fundraiser to be positive. “We got a few strange looks from the tours,” Clare Ciervo ’09 remarked. Nonetheless, another activist said that College visitors’ parents contributed to the fund, which totaled $464.44.

Retreat workers also aided the effort by wearing button pins on their work clothes. Employee Chris Kirchner explained, “I show support. My sister’s gay.”

Individuals from other student organizations protested alongside ACT OUT, including Kari Kretch ’07 of the Vassar College Democrats and Kelsey Smith ’07 of the Queer Coalition of Vassar College (QCVC). ACT OUT will continue to cooperate with the Democrats and the QCVC on future activist projects. On March 6, ACT OUT and the Democrats will co-host a panel to discuss legislative efforts in ending the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. The two groups will also work with the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network in Washington, D.C. on March 26, to a national Lobby Day, to again protest the policy.