I recently became acquainted with a dynamic nonprofit organization founded and headquartered in Austin, Texas.  With a powerful vision and big dreams, Atticus Circle (www.atticuscircle.org) has a mission to educate and mobilize straight people to advance equal rights for LGBT partners, parents, and their children.

The organization provides information about the rights of parents and partners that are denied solely on the basis of sexual orientation and seeks to create cultural and attitudinal change by helping people understand the unique challenges and discrimination same-gender couples and their families face.  The founder, Anne Wynne, whom I had the good fortune to meet, is a practicing attorney in Austin who was moved in a heartfelt way to launch the organization in 2004 when 11 states passed marriage discrimination amendments (the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) had been passed and allowed these states to enact homophobia into their laws by preventing same-sex couples from marrying).  With the help of many friends and supporters who offered funding to launch the organization, Atticus Circle was born.  I had the chance to meet with the organization’s straight executive director, Ruth Gardner-Loew, whose passion for the mission of the organization is clear in any language (as she speaks a few).

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In recent blogs, I urged campus leaders at all levels to take action to prevent the occurrence of negative events on campus and spend needed time and energy on preventing harassment and bullying, rather than attempting to determine why it may occur on campus.  I have implored campus leaders to take every opportunity to create venues on campus for more dialogue and debate about LGBTQ issues in order to raise awareness (and enlightenment).  Well, Atticus Circle provides a clever way to do that on campuses of any size – through creatively worded T-shirt campaigns.

The Atticus Circle T-shirt campaign is entitled, “gay? fine by me.” As a project launched at Duke University in Durham, N.C., in 2003, this campaign focuses on having as many people as possible across campus wear brightly colored t-shirts bearing the words, “gay? fine by me.” Why?  As described by Gardner-Loew, the T-shirts create awareness and start conversations.  She mentioned receiving letters from people around the nation who wore the t-shirt on campus or in their community and had total strangers walk up to them and say, “Thank you for your support.”  Gardner-Loew explained that campus T-shirt projects are not intended to make Atticus Circle a lot of cash (since the organization only makes about $1 per shirt), but rather is intended to trigger conversations and dialogue about the civil rights implications of denying rights to the LGBTQ community.  To date, Atticus Circle has distributed over 100,000 T-shirts and has over 6,000 supporters from all 50 states.  Gardner-Loew, an African-American woman who lived in Europe for a decade and worked in New York City as a journalist, speaks with passion about the need to create a voice across the majority (straight) to help create equality for the minority (gay).  As straight advocates, Gardner-Loew, Wynn and Atticus Circle team remain undeterred and have a vision to become a national player in the quest for equality for the LGBTQ community.

So, create awareness on campus in a unique and visible way.  Visit www.atticuscircle.org and download a campus information kit to start a “gay? fine by me” project on your campus.  You may just change a few minds and help pave the way toward equality on campus and beyond.