Fine By Me is an organization in the United States with the mission to give voice to friends and supporters of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. The organization developed a project to print t-shirts bearing the phrase "gay? fine by me" and then worked with communities to distribute and wear the T-shirts to show acceptance and support for LGBT people and publicly demonstrate against homophobia.
The organization began at Duke University in spring 2003. The idea behind Fine By Me started from a dinner conversation between ten friends, both gay and straight. The group came up with the idea to distribute free T-shirts with an anti-homophobic message. In less than two weeks, the group distributed nearly 2,000 t-shirts to students, faculty and staff. Even then university president, Nannerl 'Nan' Overholser Keohane, wore a T-shirt.
The idea continues to spread to schools all over the country, including traditionally conservative and religious institutions such as the University of Notre Dame, Boston College, and Texas A&M University.
Since its founding in 2003, the organization has expanded its focus to include churches and synagogues, local civic groups, PFLAG chapters, businesses, and other community groups and organizations. For groups wanting to show support, custom t-shirts are printed with a custom organizations name in place of "us" in "gay? fine by us".
Fine By Me added t-shirts with the message "gay marriage? fine by me" to support same-sex marriage.
In September 2008, Fine By Me became a special project of Atticus Circle.
Famous quotes containing the word fine:
“The lakes are something which you are unprepared for; they lie up so high, exposed to the light, and the forest is diminished to a fine fringe on their edges, with here and there a blue mountain, like amethyst jewels set around some jewel of the first water,—so anterior, so superior, to all the changes that are to take place on their shores, even now civil and refined, and fair as they can ever be.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)