Gay OSU

You’ve been involved in many leadership capacities as a student. Tell me about the John Glenn Institute.

I’ve had a lot of opportunities to travel with the John Glenn Institute (www.glenninstitute.org) to places like Boston and Washington and actually speak with those who are public officials. My main focus during my time with these officials was to find out how they successfully represented their constituents and kept them engaged and involved.

You’re in a fraternity too. Which one and why did you chose that particular fraternity?

I joined Sigma Phi Epsilon at the end of my sophomore year and I’ve been a member for three years. I joined Sig Ep because they had the highest GPA of any fraternity on campus. The average was 3.4. They were all very involved across campus and they seemed to really have a great balance between being involved and academics.

Didn’t you start the first-ever college chapter of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC)?

Yes, I was in Washington once and I saw a building with a large equal sign on it and asked a friend what it was. He told me about the political advocacy of the HRC and I was hooked. At OSU at the time, there was no political GLBTQ group. There were groups that supported and helped university students who were coming out, but no group that specifically took a political view and action about GLBTQ issues. I think every gay person is political just because of who we are. I started HRC and, although I am not that involved now because of my student government position, the organization is in its third year and doing very well.

I know that HRC has received some negative press because it hasn’t been the most diverse organization. It has been primarily white and male. What was our chapter like as far as diversity?

Since there were no political gay groups on campus, we really needed to build our political knowledge. I admit we were mostly white. I guess the racial make up was about 70/30. We did make sure that as we built the organization we were half GLBTQ and half straight. That was important to us because we wanted the organization to do a lot of straight ally trainings. We spoke all over campus on what it means to be a straight ally. We spoke a lot in the Greek system. Our way in was that they needed to get their diversity points and having us speak was a way to meet that goal.

You’re white and your running mate, Kate Christobek, is white as well. How do you bring diversity into your team? How do you cross borders of race, class and gender?

It’s easy when you’re the student body president because you go and speak to all kinds of groups on campus. After all, I represent the student body.

Was your political campaign diverse?

Oh yeah. We had to have a diverse team to get elected. Our diversity on our campaign team was 50/50.

Was it easy to get others on campus to join your campaign?

I was a little shocked at first about this. People who I had considered good friends asked me, “Do you think your lifestyle represents OSU students?” Then they told me they couldn’t or wouldn’t support me and it basically ended our friendship.

Believing that a university is a microcosm of what is going on in the larger society, were there mud-slinging things that mirrored state and national political campaigns?

Oh yeah! I had some hateful name calling made about me. There was a university blog about the elections and they posted some pretty cruel things there. For instance, they did the celebrity name blending thing and too Ryan Fournier and Kate Christobek, my running mate, and made it “Fournikate.”

What was your most negative experience while running for student body president?

I had a big surprise when I visited the College Republicans. It was in April so it was before the elections and they had invited a Republican candidate who was running for the United States Senate to speak. He spoke right before me and his speech had a lot of anti-gay rhetoric in it. I couldn’t believe I had to speak right after him to his crowd of about a hundred people. He finished and was walking out when I got to the podium. I said, “Sir, you might want to stay and hear what a university student has to say about some of your comments.” He agreed. I confronted things like how a lack of domestic partnership benefits deters quality faculty from coming to OSU. I gave one of the best speeches I have ever given and when I finished, there was very little applause. Another odd speech was with the Campus Crusade for Christ group. I spoke and asked for questions and total silence. The other two speakers were asked all kinds of questions.

How did you nurture your spirit during those times when negative things happened to you?

I’d go home at night and I’d write down the most memorable things that happened that day. Things like people on our team who stayed up all night long and were still putting flyers around campus at 6 a.m. for an event that day. Or I’d go online and look at the database of volunteers who were supporting the campaign.

What did it feel like when you won then?

It was a public announcement. I jumped out of my seat! It was awkward in that moment, because they sit all of the people running together and read off who is second place, runner-up and then winner. Our team was all wearing green t-shirts and they let out a roar of a cheer.

How did your fraternity aid you in the election?

The main benefit for me is the tremendous support I received from brothers. I’m out to all of my brothers, so they were very supportive. Other fraternities were supportive too because they liked that someone Greek was running for office.

How have you been received since you won the election?

Well, I’m the first gay student government president and I realize that that is how people remember me. I wasn’t okay with that. I didn’t run on a singular platform of being gay. But we’re starting to get things done now. Recently we got the old lighting on campus replaced at a cost of $938,000. This is a major issue for student safety. I want to be remembered as having contributed to the overall quality of students’ lives.

What about the students who wouldn’t join your campaign because you were gay? How did they respond to you after you won?

I never received a single apology and never talked to them again. We see each other on campus, but we don’t speak.

What is a message you want to get out about OSU?

Columbus is much more open. GLBTQ people have a strong presence here. Equality Ohio recently formed here. Our Pride Festival had over a hundred thousand people. OSU is getting more accepting. You can live here and be integrated.

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