I’ve been tossing and turning in my sleep since Student Body President campaigns began — I just couldn’t decide who to vote for. But in light of recent news, I now know who to not not vote for: Dwayne O’Rear. Facebook comments and tweets by O’Rear dating back to November 2010 inspired the ire of the student body. Despite this, I am supporting Mr. O’Rear.

If one thing is clear, it’s that Dwayne O’Rear plays the long game. And I don’t mean “long game” like when he was on the football team for one year — longer than that. Think about it. Since 2010, Dwayne has been wooing the voting groups that are usually ignored by politicians: homophobes, Islamophobes and sexists — otherwise known as the “intolerance trifecta.” He’s just one racial slur away from an endorsement from Jake Knotts (former S.C. gubernatorial candidate who called his opponent, Nikki Haley, a raghead because of her Indian heritage in 2010).

Readers, it’s not news that I am staunchly opposed to gay people. Just thinking about two guys loving each other gets my blood boiling. But just to be clear, I don’t think about gay men a lot — that would be gay. I only think about it when I hate them … and that’s all the time. 

So it would only make sense that I support Dwayne for SBP because of his — now viral — O’Rear queer smear (not to mention the rhyming opportunities his name provides). On Nov. 15, 2010, O’Rear posted on his Facebook, “Just saw two dudes hug and kiss each other in the quad. Helllllllllll no!!!” 

It didn’t stop there. Another post read, “To the cute girls always with the gay guy: get yourself a real man.”

Exactly, Dwayne. 

Gay men are not real men — they’re a threat to O’Rear’s masculinity because women would rather be with them. And, ladies, you’re missing out. If anyone knows how to treat a woman right, it’s Dwayne.

How do I know? Twitter.

Last month Dwayne sent a concerned tweet to ESPN asking why a female commentator was covering our game against UNC-Chapel Hill. Dwayne’s not sexist, he probably just thinks a female reporter would have been more comfortable in her environment: folding laundry in the kitchen while preparing dinner. So, ladies, if you want a traditional man who assumes your needs are his wants, get on the Dwayne train. 

But there’s one more reason I support Dwayne in addition to his coming out on Facebook as anti-gay. Like myself, Dwayne struggles with his own identity. I don’t need to explain to you how being an Arab-American can cause internal conflict. I love the United States of America. I bleed red, but I feel blue when I realize I’m not white. And the last time I became aware of my non-whiteness was while reading Dwayne’s use of the term “raghead” in a Facebook thread.

I was happy to see Dwayne seems to share some of that confusion. In November 2010, WRAL filmed a story about the “black out” at the Free Expression Tunnel in which African-American students blocked the tunnel to protest hate speech in it. O’Rear, who appears in the video, said, “If white people went down there … and didn’t let black people through, we’d be [called] racist.”

…

My initial reaction was probably similar to yours: “Wait a minute — has anyone told Dwayne O’Rear he’s half-black yet?” But it all makes sense in the context of his pre-SBP election work. O’Rear is making an appeal to the oft-overlooked minority — Islamophobic, homophobic and sexist white males.

It’s a bold move no SBP candidate has dared to try before, and if I had to guess why, I’d say it’s because there are gay students, Muslims and women on campus. If you’re not one of those three, then the choice is clear — vote O’Rear.