A kyriarchy, as explained by SKY, is a social system of oppression.
SKY, an LGBT student organization, held the demonstration to raise awareness of the negative effects gay, lesbian and transgender slurs have on LGBT youth.
It focused its demonstration around teaching those who passed by the demonstration the true meaning of the word “fag.”
“Basically, during the English Inquisition, heretics, which were most of the time homosexuals, were forced to carry their own sticks to carry their own fire so that they would be burned to death,” said Ben Dennis, SKY member and coordinator of the event.
They used charcoal to symbolize the murders of homosexuals that have happened and are still happening, Dennis said.
Posters of a small boy were propped up on chairs alongside the charcoal with a message that reiterated the last word he heard before he was shot and killed at a young age.
That word was faggot.
SKY was able to hold the demonstration with funding provided to them by Union Board.
Grace Miller, a senior and current SKY member, presented the proposal to Union Board as a past board member.
“They’re really trying to reach out to more groups on campus and have co-sponsored events,” Miller said. “They really have the desire to help smaller groups that don’t have the ability to fund events.”
Miller said Union Board stood behind SKY’s ?message.
“They wanted to be involved in this project, and they really supported the idea of spreading the message of what these words really mean,” she said.
Freshman Emma Lager is a member of SKY. She passed out fliers in Dunn Meadow that had statistics on the harmful effects of slurs such as faggot, homo and tranny on LGBTQ youth.
The small fliers showed the devastating effects of these slurs with statistics such as almost half of transgender youth have seriously thought about committing suicide.
“I think this is pretty meaningful,” Lagers said. “I appreciate that a lot of physical harm comes to LGBTQ youth and I’m just really against that, and I’d like to change that.”
Dennis said he thought the demonstration was educating those who stopped to understand what SKY was trying to do.
“A lot of people are just shocked to even hear that that’s the real meaning behind ‘faggot,’” he said. “A lot of people just have no idea.”
