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!

World peace

Tonight at 7:30pm in Lerner 569, GendeRevolution is hosting their “Pee in Peace” Potluck. Bwog approves of all that alliteration!

The event is celebrating the near-completion of new gender neutral bathrooms on Columbia and Barnard’s campuses. All attendees and co-sponsoring groups are invited to bring food beginning with the letter ‘P.’ Other exciting things: GendeRevolution will unveil the official map and hand out “Know Your Rights” bathroom cards.

*name that tag quote!

Duchamp via Wikimedia

Following Columbia administration’s decision to postpone the implementation of a gender neutral housing policy that was expected to be in place for the 2010-2011 academic year, the students who introduced the plan – EAAH President Avi Edelman (CC ’11) GendeRevolution President Miranda Elliot (CC ’10), 2011 VP Sean Udell (CC ’11) and 2010 VP for Policy Sarah Weiss (CC ’10) – have been circulating a petition to address the administration’s concern that there may not be enough student support for the new housing policy.

Avi Edelman answers a few of Bwog’s questions.

Why do you think the administration decided against implementing the policy, or even a pilot program for this year’s selection process? What reasons did they give for the decision (other than their worries that not enough students were in favor of it)?

A lot of the reasons given for the delay were logistical–updating the housing application, educating the student body about the changes, and getting feedback from students about the policy were all mentioned. That’s extremely frustrating and disappointing, because the proposal was submitted according to a timeline established in consultation with administrators. Those of us who worked on the proposal (a broad coalition that included CCSC, ESC, Everyone Allied Against Homophobia, GendeRevolution, and the Columbia Queer Alliance) also made it very clear that we were eager to assist the administration in the logical work necessary to make this happen in time for this year’s room selection. Many administrators that we have worked with have been fantastic, and I am confident that the policy will eventually become reality; this is just a classic case of bureaucratic foot-dragging.

More answers after the jump!

Read more…

Manhattanville is (temporarily?) on hold. The primary players have a lot to say.

The Eye interviews Miranda Elliot of GendeRevolution.

The Bwog does not watch American Idol. Or Housewives. Only The West Wing DVDs and Masterpiece Theatre.