I think the first word of this is not supposed to be there, but here ya go:

(Edmond, Oklahoma) Gay Republicans at the University of Central Oklahoma say gay students are trying to take away their right to free speech.

The UCO College Republicans says it will go ahead with "Straight Pride Week" on campus despite criticism. The group says it has every right to celebrate.

"The general gist is that if you are a straight student on campus be proud, be loud, this is your time to shine," College Republican Kyle Houts told Oklahoma City's channel 5.

The group has posted fliers on campus that read, "we're here, we're conservative, we're out."

Members of the UCO Gay Alliance for Tolerance and Equality say they consider the event an attack on LGBT students.

"What is there to say about it, 'I'm proud, and I'm straight and I guess white,' I don't know?" said GATE member Jennifer Rodriguez. "I think they definitely are being discriminatory because there's probably a lot of gay Republicans out there."

University officials have given the College Republicans permission to put up their fliers, but say their approval does not constitute an endorsement.

First: Of course UCO must grant them permission to post their flyers. Government agencies shouldn't restrict speech by content, thanks to the First Amendment.

Second: The point of "Gay Pride" festivals, in the US and elsewhere, are for people who are told daily - mostly by Republicans - that they have to pretend not to be who they are. Conservatives tell gay people every day that they're going to burn in hell for who they are, or at the very least, that they need to pretend to be straight if they want to avoid getting the crap beat out of them. Take a look at this entry from a gay Oklahoma City University student (that's OCU, not UCO) for an example:

Here at a university, free thought is supposed to reign, and new ideas and cultures mix and are shared with everyone. People at a university are supposed to be more mature, more open to new ideas. Especially being an art school one would imagine that OCU is especially open-minded and welcoming.

Hence my shock and amazement at finding that I cannot walk to the lunch room without being called a "fag." In fact, many gay students must put up with a barrage of insults, glares, gossip, dirty pranks and general bigotry on a daily basis.

Gay Pride events are about these people standing up and saying, "Screw you - we're citizens just like you, we have the same rights you do, and we're not going to pretend to be something we're not just because it makes you feel icky."

I'm unaware of any Republicans at UCO facing "insults, glares, gossip, dirty pranks and general bigotry on a daily basis" simply because they're Republican. These kids have somehow convinced themselves that people disagreeing with them means their opinions are being suppressed.

Then again, when their leader continually says, "You're either for us or you're for the terrorists," it's not hard to see where that myopia comes from.