Love is in the air today, the first day that gay and lesbian couples can legally wed in the state of New York. In the city alone, 823 couples—including two of Mayor Bloomberg’s aides—are scheduled to be married. It’s all thanks to the Marriage Equality Act, which passed late last month. In honor of this historic victory for civil rights and love, Bwog reached out to pertinent campus groups to get their take on the passage of the Act. Also be sure to check out Cityroom’s piece on how young New Yorkers—that’s sort of us!—feel about marriage equality in New York.

Check out the statements after the jump!

Tonight, the student group Everyone Allied Against Homophobia will begin distributing pink fliers to all dorm rooms on the Columbia and Barnard campuses. The fliers are intended to be placed in dorm room windows to indicate that the dorm room is a “safe space” for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual and queer students and their allies, as well as to display the room’s occupant’s support to onlookers outside of the room. EAAH has previously distributed the fliers to all first-year dorms, this is the first year the fliers will be delivered to all undergraduate dorms.

For more information, you can read the EAAH press release here.

Delivering the petition to the dean

The push for gender neutral housing made some progress this school year, but those in favor of it say there obviously needs more to be done. To bring attention to this issue once more, Everyone Allied Against Homophobia today officially presented a petition, signed by over 900 Columbia students and endorsed by 20 campus organizations, to Deans Moody-Adams, Peña-Mora, and Shollenberger stating their case.

The statement by EAAH in the petition’s letter expresses “disappointment over the lack of progress this year” and feelings of being “stuck in the mud;” however, it also conveys gratitude to the Columbia administration for taking the initiative this far. You can read the entire petition here (PDF).

The timing of the delivery of this petition is related to the fact that the first official Open Housing Meeting is taking place next Tuesday, May 11. Be sure to check back for further updates.

Late-night news in “Giant Inflatable Penis-gate,” as the queer community has moved quickly to respond to the controversial editorial published in Wednesday’s Spectator. In addition to the factual errors, the editorial is also attracting controversy for alleging that Queer Awareness Month “must be sure to focus on awareness and education before revelry.” The “revelry” in question was Genderfuck, the underwear-only party held this past Saturday night.

Word of the editorial spread quickly through queer organizations on campus. About 20 students (including several leaders of the queer community) commented on the original editorial, and the Spectator uploaded Thursday’s letters to the editor before the rest of the site was updated. In addition, seven student groups have sent a letter to the Spec editorial board, calling the editorial “inaccurate, sensationalized, misinformed, and malicious” and demanding “sufficient space be given in the immediate future to concerned groups and individuals to offer editorial responses.” Finally, plans are already in place for a “kiss-in”/protest at the Spec‘s offices tomorrow at 12:15 PM.

In addition to publishing Thursday’s letters early, the Spec is considering a meeting with queer groups on campus, and a source tells Bwog that editor-in-chief Tom Faure will be penning an explanation of the editorial process in the same issue. The letter from the student groups to the Spec editorial board is posted after the jump.

UPDATE 3:26 AM: Faure’s aforementioned letter is also posted after the jump.

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Everyone Allied Against Homophobia is sponsoring a cupcake-based study break tonight. They have even imported fancy cupcakes from famous downtown bakery Magnolia. 

Go to the Stephen Donaldson Lounge (located in the basement of Furnald) at 9 PM tonight for frosting, fun, etc. 

The student councils and a newly-expanded list student groups met last night in the SGO to continue their discussions of the NROTC referendum. Despite the now-public nature of their plans, the meetings remained closed to the press with notes being sent to campus media organizations.

The meetings are still focused on the process behind the referendum, rather than the debate itself. Most importantly, the vote will no longer be a referendum, but a “survey,” a less formal version with the same procedures. Among other effects, Bwog notes that the vote can now go forward without waiting for the results of the “referenda committee” that was presented at both the CCSC and ESC board meetings this past week.

As for scheduling before the vote, there are currently plans for “information sessions” about the history of NROTC and Columbia, and two town halls, one at Columbia and one at Barnard, with panel discussions followed by an open floor.

However, other details about the exact date(s) of the survey and number of answers remain unresolved. More, including GS’s absence and EAAH’s rebuffed attempt to enter, after the jump.

UPDATE (1:20 AM): The media notes themselves are now posted after the jump.

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