Students at the University of Texas have started a protest that is sure to receive attention—and some dirty looks. In order to protest a new law in Texas that legalizes carrying concealed guns on college campuses, the students carried sex toys. Unlike guns, sex toys are illegal to have while on the college campus.
The leader of the protest, Jessica Jin, justified this display by telling Reuters, “We are fighting absurdity with absurdity.”
She also told The New York Times, “These laws won’t protect anyone. The campus doesn’t want them.”
The protest, called “Cocks Not Glocks: Campus (Dildo) Carry,” began this past Wednesday, deliberately planned to start on the first day of classes at the university. Protest organizers gave away hundreds of toys, many of which were donated by local stores, at a rally on Wednesday. They also passed out zip ties so that students could attach them to their bags, in clear view of anyone they may walk past. One of their slogans was, “If you are packing heat, we are packing meat.”
The law that these students are protesting was passed in June and went into effect on the first of this month, and states that anyone over the age of 21 with a license to carry a concealed weapon can now bring that weapon on campus and into their classrooms.
“Texas has decided it is not all obnoxious or illegal to allow deadly concealed weapons on campus. But walking around with a dildo could land you in trouble,” Jin told Reuters.
The state legislators responsible for the passage of this law (primarily Republicans) insist that the law can help prevent another campus shooting, as well as protects the rights of gun owners. But many students and faculty members are afraid the law will cause more potential for violence. Three professors at the University of Texas even went so far as to file a motion in court, asking for the right to forbid guns in their own classrooms. The motion was denied by a U.S. district judge last week.
The university, which was opposed to the law in the first place, maintained that the protest was within the students’ rights to free speech and did nothing to deter protestors.