A group of students have recently taken matters into their own hands with the Cocks not Glocks campaign.
As a student walking around University of Texas’ Austin campus this week, it’s a possibility you might walk past a dildo staring back at you. That’s because UT student-activists are protesting a new law that allows handgun license holders the right to carry concealed weapons into university buildings and classrooms. Their slogan: Cocks not Glocks.
While Texas lawmakers decided to pass campus carry legislation in 2015, the implementation of those laws didn’t take effect until Aug. 1 of this year. The intention was to allow universities proper time to plan procedures on campuses throughout the state.
Three UT-Austin professors recently attempted to block the law, filing a lawsuit against the university and the state’s attorney office, but a federal judge denied the suit. As the Texas Tribune wrote: “In the suit, the professors said the possibility of guns on campus could stifle class discussion in their courses, which touch on emotional issues like gay rights and abortion. They argued that was a violation of students’ First Amendment right to free speech.”
A group of students have recently taken matters into their own hands with the Cocks not Glocks campaign. This week, the group passed out 4,500 dildos to interested students who were willing to strap the dildos to their backpacks or display them in a public manner, in an attempt to persistently remind others of the carry law.
As Rosie Zander, a Campus Coordinator involved with the movement, explains in the Houston Chronicle video below: “Texas penal code states that you can’t have obnoxious or phallic objects openly carried in Texas. So you can’t carry your dildo openly in Texas, but you can now bring your glock into a classroom. We’re protesting the absurd gun laws with more absurdity.”
Ana López, a Cocks not Glocks organizer and vice president and co-founder of Students Against Campus Carry, said the group received donations from local Austin companies like Forbidden Fruit and Hustler Hollywood. In addition, a UT spokesperson informed the Austin American-Statesman that it would not be persecuting the Cocks not Glocks students, saying, “This appears to be protected political speech.”
Photos of the protest below prove one thing for certain: This movement is memorable, and more importantly, seems like it could just be effective.
#CocksNotGlocks pic.twitter.com/cVtG0BILkZ
— Cocks Not Glocks (@CocksNotGlocks) August 22, 2016
People are literally juggling dicks on the UT Austin campus right now. #CocksnotGlocks pic.twitter.com/FuaBljUow8
— Matt Valentine (@germanglasseye) August 23, 2016
Radicalism in the GVP movement has arrived. It's feminist as hell and freakin badass. #CocksNotGlocks pic.twitter.com/EPbc0DkOb2
— sarah clements (@sfclem) August 24, 2016
WE HAVE SHIRTS! Help us prolong/pro"dong" the battle against campus carry. https://t.co/V5cpv9RbLd pic.twitter.com/C2smGv6GAo
— Cocks Not Glocks (@CocksNotGlocks) August 13, 2016