We cheered at the Chicago Gay Pride Parade. We scoffed at Kim Davis, who refused a gay couple’s right to marry.

We watched the Snapchat story of the Confederate flag coming down from the South Carolina capitol building with American pride. We were shocked when protests arose trying to bring it back.

We can easily recognize intolerance in others outside our community, but when it happens during a Comedy Troupe act as they welcome the “Down to the River People?” it slips over our heads and gets covered by laughter. 

Our reaction to girls in Down to the River Boys reminds us that intolerance is everywhere, but it’s hard to see when it surrounds us. Perhaps a reason for our blindness is that there are different variations of intolerance, but it is not an excuse.

There is blatant intolerance, when people actively voice their unwillingness to accept change, and then there is a more subtle type of intolerance. We have seen both, since rumors began of girls being in Down to the River Boys and since the Loyalty Day Assembly when they made their debut.

Obviously, saying that girls shouldn’t be included in the spirit group is sexist. Saying that girls shouldn’t be included because its title includes the word “Boys” is also sexist. But we know that, and few students express their intolerance in such explicit ways.

The larger problem is when students are intolerant and unaware of it.

Being uncomfortable with girls in the new group is intolerant, even though saying “uncomfortable” isn’t as clearly sexist as saying girls shouldn’t be in it. The same goes with saying “Why change it now? It’s always been with only boys.”

Including girls in Down to the River Boys should not only  be accepted, rather it should be applauded. It’s a step in the positive direction toward gender equality, and we need to be proud of it. We can’t be appalled by Confederate flags and uncomfortable with girls in Down to the River Boys.

It’s time for us to accept change as it happens in front of us and not be subtly reluctant about it.