May 13, 1998

Note: The following is a letter that appeared in the Central Florida Future and the Knight Times, the campus papers at the University of Central Florida.

Every year the Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Student Union paints the freedom circle near Polk and Lake [residence] halls for LesBiGay Awareness Week. This year it took us two weeks and over 18 hours of labor to paint the circle.

We decided on a pink triangle cutting into a rainbow surrounded by the wording, "UCF GLBSU PRESENTS LESBIGAY AWARENESS WEEK APRIl 12-17."

What was so absolutely revolting about this that someone felt it needed to be destroyed, not once, but twice? How can one justify such destruction and blatant displays of hate and intolerance? Furthermore, how can one consciously hide the evidence of such intolerance as someone from the UCF staff did?

The first time, some unknown person wrote the eloquent message, "Fuck this shit" on the pink triangle. Along with taking pictures, we reported it to the police who had someone erase the black marker. On the morning of Friday, April 17, it was discovered that someone had once again defaced the circle with "witty" additions in orange.

Without reporting the vandalism to the police, without notifying someone from GLBSU, and without taking pictures of the sabotage, someone made the hasty decision to have people from Physical Plant paint the entire circle over in white (I'm sure in an effort to save face in front of visiting parents and prospective students). I speculate whether anyone from Physical Plant had any intentions of reporting this incident whatsoever.

One of President Hitt's goals for the University of Central Florida is diversity. The issue of sexual orientation is quite underrepresented in this campaign to promote a sense of diversity, tolerance and inclusion on campus. What took place on Friday was a glaring example of this. The perceived group of people: gay, lesbian and bisexual UCF students. Every time a hate crime is committed against gays, lesbians and bisexuals, the incident is rarely taken seriously and is quickly covered up and swept under the rug.

I am disgusted with this unjustifiable trend. The university should have an established procedure for handling hate crimes on campus. The matter must be formally investigated as the university is under an obligation to report the incident pursuant to the Hate Crimes Statistics Act of 1996. Obviously, the Federal Government takes this matter very seriously. Has UCF's rapid growth inflated its ego to such a degree that its administration feels superior enough to discount the seriousness of what is now nationwide policy?

This is not the only time hate crimes such as this have been reported and consequently disregarded. UCF has a problem with gay-related hate crimes on campus. In the library, copies of The Advocate, a gay publication, have been found urinated on in the men's restroom. Last Decemebr, while GLBSU was fighting to receive funding from [the student] Senate to bring Chastity Bono to campus, our faculty advisor received a death threat. I myself received a harassing message on my answering machine a few days prior to LesBiGay Awareness Week. It's unfortunate that gay-bashing seems to be the last socially acceptable discrimination in the United States. No form of prejudice should be even remotely tolerated on this campus, but my experience tells me differently.

Marie Armentrout and Ryan MacDonald are co-vice presidents of the Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual Student Union at University of Central Florida Other Articles I've Written