Houston Chronicle | Brittany Britto and Glynn A. Hill | Sept. 20, 2019

Rice University’s Marching Owl Band delivered a controversial skit and played pro-LGBTQ song “YMCA” by the Village People as dozens of students and alumni rushed the field with rainbow flags at its football game against Baylor University on Saturday night.

The skit comes as LGBTQ students and alumni fight to be recognized by the private Baptist college in Waco.

Chad Fisher, a spokesman for the Marching Owl Band, also known as “The MOB,” said he and his bandmates decided on a “Star Wars”-themed show months ago, but after learning about Baylor LGBTQ students’ ongoing fight to get recognition for their student group, they decided to incorporate that into their performance.

“Some of us did some more digging and found how deep it went,” Fisher said.

A Baylor spokeswoman confirmed that on Sept. 6, the college’s administration declined to officially recognize and charter Gamma Alpha Upsilon, an LGBTQ-student group on campus that has been fighting to be recognized since its inception in 2011.

The private Baptist university’s refusal to recognize Gamma Alpha Upsilon, or “GAY” in Greek letters, as an official student group has prevented them from receiving certain privileges, including the opportunity to advertise events on campus, reserve university spaces for meetings and receive funding through the student government.

On HoustonChronicle.com: New semester, same frustrations for LGBTQ students at Baylor

Though Baylor President Linda Livingstone did not issue an official statement about the recent charter denial, the spokeswoman pointed to an Aug. 27 statement from Livingstone. In it, Livingstone said that “Baylor is committed to providing a loving and caring community for all students — including our LGBTQ students.”

But she also referred to the college’s “Human Sexuality” policy, which states that “the university affirms the biblical understanding of sexuality as a gift from God” and that “Christian churches across the ages and around the world have affirmed purity in singleness and fidelity in marriage between a man and a woman as the biblical norm.”

Baylor’s sexual conduct policy, also referenced in Livingstone’s statement, explains that it is “expected that Baylor students will not participate in advocacy groups which promote understandings of sexuality that are contrary to biblical teaching,” including “heterosexual sex outside of marriage and homosexual behavior.”

That response from Baylor is what motivated the Rice band.

“We just think that’s kind of ridiculous,” Fisher said. “And so we all got to our show writing meeting Sunday, and we were like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is like exactly what our show needs to be about. We absolutely need to call Baylor out for this.’ From there, it just kind of happened.”

The band members stuck with their original “Star Wars” theme, which was complimented by serious tunes from the soundtrack, and planned for Rice’s mascot Sammy the Owl to be a Jedi on the “light side” that would battle a bear — Baylor’s “dark side” mascot and a representative of the university’s administration and Livingstone’s statement. After, a lively and colorful dance party ensued with gay pride flags.

Fisher said once the idea was created, the band gathered more steam and the support of students and alumni, many of whom contacted the band to carry or donate pride flags that were on his Amazon wish list.

Braulio Garcia, executive producer of the band, said typically when they request help from the Rice community, they’ll get two to three responses.

“As soon as we do this, 30 people are interested and over 70 flags are donated,” he said. “It’s something we’re not used to.”

On HoustonChronicle.com: More than 3,000 petition for Baylor to recognize LGBTQ student group

But this is not the MOB’s first time poking fun at Baylor or its opposing teams. It’s a part of its shtick.

“Some say we’re tacky. Distasteful. Shameless. Offensive. And we agree completely. The MOB is all of those things and more,” the organization wrote on its official website. “We pride ourselves on playing good music, satirizing whatever deserves it, and having fun.”

In a 2016 match against Baylor, the MOB formed the head of Fozzie Bear the Muppet, a way to incorporate the university’s bear mascot before it segued into more jokes referencing the school’s issues with Title IX and sexual assault. The band got into the formation of the Roman numerals of the number nine for Title IX while five band members ran around the field appearing to play football — likely no coincidence since five students expressed to the Houston Chronicle the university’s unfair treatment of them after they came out as victims of sexual assault and at least two victims alleged that Baylor football players had been their attackers.

The MOB band members also formed a star and referenced former Baylor president and law professor Ken Starr, who left the university after complaints that he mishandled Baylor’s sexual assault allegations.

In 1973, the band notably trolled Texas A&M University by flippantly coming out in the T-formation the Aggies were known for and forming a fire hydrant for their mascot — a dog named Reveille, according to a 2012 statement by Chuck Throckmorton, director of the MOB.

They also formed a chicken leg with a twirling Marvin Zindler, the late TV reporter who exposed and helped shutter the Chicken Ranch, one of the longest operating brothels in Texas, before it was closed that year. According to local lore, a visit to the Chicken Ranch was a rite of passage for freshmen at Texas A&M.

And on Sept. 14, when Rice played the University of Texas, the band mocked the Longhorn’s “highest semester GPA in team history” by forming a “2.89” on the field. (In June, UT’s official football Twitter account proudly tweeted out the GPA with a celebratory graphic.)

brittany.britto@chron.com

glynn.hill@chron.com