STRAIGHT leaders plan for future

Darin Loccarini, STRAIGHT president, said the game is far from over after the Sunday night decision to deny that organization a charter.

"It was fair in that everyone got to express their viewpoints," he said. "I feel we did (get a fair trial), of course the opposition did as well. The decision -- that's a different story."

The Undergraduate Student Government Supreme Court denied a charter to STRAIGHT, an organization whose purpose is to provide students with an official and formal organization in which they can express their views regarding their refusal to accept or support homosexuality, as well as provide peer support for inter-heterosexual matters, according to STRAIGHT's constitution.

William Kerr, STRAIGHT treasurer, said the decision was unfair because he felt the justices went into the hearing with a pre-conceived decision about STRAIGHT.

"If these claims are true, I find this very disturbing," he said.

Loccarini said the court is under the assumption he is going to play its 'little game,' he said. The court thinks it does not have to abide by the country's legal system, but it must because this is a public institution, he said.

"They can't arbitrarily tell people they can't have a chartered organization and meanwhile charter their opposition," he said. "They may think right now they can, but they will find out otherwise when they're overridden."

Loccarini plans to appeal the decision through the University's appeals process, and an appeal will be made to a higher court if necessary, he said.

"If the appeal process at this University does not work in our favor, an appeal process above this University will," Loccarini said. "We have been declared guilty until proven innocent."

Loccarini referred to the denial of a charter to STRAIGHT as a double standard. He said violent tendencies toward the gay community are being associated with his organization. He explained that if a gay person was attacked on campus, his group would automatically be held responsible. But if a member of the Christian Coalition were to a attack someone, the entire organization would not be associated with the incident.

"They think they can delegate us arbitrarily to the First Amendment ghetto," Loccarini said of the supreme court.

The decision to deny the charter has only added to the organization's intent to be acknowledged as an official student organization, he said.

"They poured a million gallons of gasoline on a small campfire, and it's out of control," he said.

The intent of this organization not to promote violence has been made clear in the addition to STRAIGHT's constitution, Loccarini said. The amendment to the constitution reads, "Furthermore, STRAIGHT is committed to deterring the inclinations of intolerant individuals who engage in any actions that are not purely political, or in anyway express animosity."

The organization is ahead of its time because homosexuality is ingrained in the bureaucracy of this University, Loccarini said. He said his organization did not lose because of the denial of the charter.

"That decision did more to perpetuate this organization than had ever been done," Loccarini said. "Because now, people who otherwise don't give a crap see political correctness can squash their views."