Johnson and her fellow students spoke on Thursday night at a school board meeting to raise the anti-gay bullying issue with administrators. "The instigators, the bullies, seemed to be very proud of their efforts, and posted many smiling pictures online," Cameron said. "They had a very silent, respectful day of action, and then they came to school on Thursday to an organized backlash," Kathy Cameron, chair of the board of directors of the Washington County Gay Straight Alliance, told BuzzFeed News. Johnson said the event was met with no resistance on Wednesday, but roughly 50 students took part in a counter-protest on Thursday and Friday. "It was a very nice feeling to see that many people participating." "There was about 30 to 50 students," she said.
She told BuzzFeed News she was touched that many non-GSA members also took part. The national Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) organized a "Day of Silence" around the United States on Friday, but Johnson said she and her friends held their protest on Wednesday because of a school field trip scheduled for Friday.Īs part of their protest, Johnson and the other dozen members of the GSA arranged to wear black, paint rainbows on their faces, and stay silent for much of the day. "They were calling us every horrible name you can think of." “The protest comes less than a month after SPU’s Board of Trustees decided to uphold a rule that prevents the school from employing staff members engaged in same-sex sexual activity and extramarital sex.” So they’re lumping the LGBTQ+ community with folks who have affairs? Yeah, those are totally the same thing, I say through exhausted gritted teeth."I got called a dyke, a faggot," Johnson said. Perhaps the school thought if they did it late in the school year none of the students would raise a fuss since they’d be leaving soon? Damn those pesky kids… and their gay flags, too. “We’re not going to stop until the policy changes.” Guillot is returning to the university as a graduate student, so Menjares better get ready for more flags unless the university changes things.ĬNN gives a more detailed description of the policy, which was passed just weeks before graduation. “So, we thought what can we do instead of that? And the idea came up: why don’t we hand out a pride flag?” Guillot also told CNN what she told Menjares when receiving her diploma and handing him a flag. “It started just as a conversation among students that we didn’t really want to shake the president’s hand at graduation,” Seattle Pacific University student and organizer Chloe Guillot tells CNN. Students and alumni have been taking part in a sit-in outside of the president’s office, the rainbow flag graduation gifts for president Pete Menjares was just the next step in their ongoing protest. “The board acknowledges that there is disagreement among faithful Christians on the topic of sexuality and identity.” Cool cool cool cool cool. “The decision means SPU’s employee conduct expectations continue to reflect a traditional view on Biblical marriage and sexuality, as an expression of long-held church teaching and biblical interpretation.” It also ends on this. The statement continues with the following.