"Love-in" at University of Oregon protests antigay article

Gay and lesbian students at the University of Oregon staged a "love-in" Wednesday in response to an antigay opinion piece that ran in the student newspaper. The event drew almost 70 people to a school amphitheater. It was planned by members of the school's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer Alliance to counter what they felt was hate speech in a commentary published May 9 in the Oregon Daily Emerald. Vincent Martorano, a political science major, wrote that he had seen gay men "making out" on campus on several occasions and called the sight "an absolutely disturbing display." He also called homosexuality a disgrace to society. "I long for the days when homosexuality was viewed by society as an illness and gays opted to remain in the closet," he wrote. The paper received numerous letters protesting the comments, and the student editor wrote an editorial defending his decision to run Martorano's piece.