Ava Martinez
Reporter
Opponents of Proposition 8, a California initiative passed in 2008 banning single-sex marriage, and popular brands among teens and young adults have turned to clothing as a creative way to protest.
American Apparel’s “Legalize Gay” line of shirts and underwear is designed to make a statement against Proposition 8 and homophobia in general, according to Jonny Szymanski, of the Product Placement department of American Apparel.
“The line was started when some employees at our factory in Los Angeles requested some shirts to wear to a ‘No on Prop 8’ rally,” said Szymanski. “We’ve been involved in marching for immigrant rights for almost 10 years under our Legalize LA banner, so ‘Legalize Gay’ was a natural extension.”
The Legalize Gay line has been very popular, according to Szymanski.
“We saw several thousand of the shirts worn at the National Equality March in D.C.,” said Szymanski, “When students at Stanford organized a sit-in during some of their classes they had on Legalize Gay shirts. We’ve even seen Perez Hilton, Kathy Griffin and other celebrities wear them.”
Legalizing same-sex marriage is especially important to American Apparel because the issue affects employees and customers.
“Many of our employees identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender and so do many American Apparel customers,” said Szymanski. “We want them to know that they are supported and that the company uses its resources to speak out for them whenever it can.”
“Sexuality should be celebrated, not condemned,” according to American Apparel’s Web site. The goal of its Legalize Gay line is to “stand against Prop 8 and what it represents.”
Many students agree with American Apparel’s position against Proposition 8, and embrace the clothing line as another way to express their opinion.
“I am completely against Prop 8 because it goes against everything America stands for,” said junior Briel Renstrom. “Love is blind and people should accept different types of love.”
“I agree with the statement American Apparel is making with their clothing,” said junior Farah Fouladi. “Church and state need to be separated, and it should be up to the couple to decide if they get married, not the government.”
Marc Jacobs stores have also taken a stand against Proposition 8 with its storefront designs and a line of T-shirts, with slogans such as, “I pay my taxes, I want my rights.”
“Of the pro-gay rights clothing I’ve seen, the Marc Jacobs T-shirts speak to me the most,” said Renstrom. “The shirts are dead on. Same-sex couples are still citizens and should have the same rights as everyone else.”
Fouladi says a simple T-shirt may not appear to have a significant impact to create more rights for same-sex couples, but it might be a step in the right direction.
“Wearing T-shirts to advocate for same-sex marriage rights is a very strong way to spread the word for marriage equality,” said Fouladi. “While it may not seem as extreme as participating in a protest, everyone who sees the shirt will receive the message.”
American Apparel’s goal is for their line to lead to more gay rights, but the onus is on customers to wear them and spread the word, according to Szymanski.
“We wouldn’t want to speculate on any impact the line has had, but our hope has always been to make it a little easier for people in the movement to make their voice heard or to pass the message along to a friend or family member,” said Szymanski. “We’ve given away at least 30,000 so far, but without people wearing them they are just T-shirts.”