Gay? Fine By Us.

By Aaron Bailey in Arts & Entertainment on Apr 19, 2005 6:40PM

This morning, Jamison Liang and as many as 225 fellow classmates wore "gay? fine by me." t-shirts to Homewood-Flossmoor High School to promote awareness of gay students.

Said Liang on his t-shirt coming out, "I mean, I'm confident in who I am. There's no sense in hiding it."

Not to be left behind, a number of Christian students wore altnerative t-shirts saying "crimes against God... discrimination against ... my 10 Commandments, my prayers, my values, my faith, my God."

Chicagoist isn't sure how wearing pro-gay shirts is "discrimination" but we'd certainly recommend that they work on cutting down their message. That's just way too many words to fit on even an X-Large.

Spokesman for the school, David Thieman, said both groups could wear the shirts as long as they abide by the student code of conduct. The Tribune reports that no incidents or clashes occured between the two groups, although according to GLSEN, 4 out of 5 LGBT students -- t-shirt or not -- is verbally or physically abused because of their orientation.

Predictably, Chicagoist's favorite "family-non-friendly" institute responded. "I don't like the message [of the pro-gay shirts] because to me it trivializes the whole issue. For gay guys, you have serious health issues," said Peter LaBarbera, executive director of the Illinois Family Institute. Yeah, but what about the gay girls? Apparently they're kosher.

While we're on the subject of t-shirts, Chicagoist wants us one of these shirts.

(Photo via finebyme.org. The person in this photo is not associated with Homewood-Flossmoor High School.)