Protest by Gays Sparks Angry Confrontations

A Cal State Northridge protest Wednesday against the distribution of anti-gay flyers on campus touched off a series of angry confrontations between gay-rights demonstrators and their opponents.

Members of SQUISH--Strong Queers United in Stopping Heterosexism--staged a “die-in,” drawing chalk outlines of their bodies on a campus sidewalk to protest the anonymous flyers, which offered free baseball bats for “gay bashing and clubbing.” The chalk outlines were meant to remind onlookers that deaths could result from the violence promoted by the flyers, the protesters said.

Some students spit on the chalk drawings. The series of confrontations and arguments that followed lasted more than two hours and drew about 150 students to the campus center. A dean and campus police dispersed the crowd. No one was injured.