The bruise surrounding Kat Superfisky's eye was a garish blue-green. She stood over a black T-shirt, taping a sexist slur onto the front with masking tape.
The studio art sophomore was preparing for Wednesday's second annual Act Out, part of National Coming Out Days at MSU.
The face-painted bruises would wash off at the end of the day, but from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., they transformed students into victims of hate crimes. The students passed out flyers around campus explaining how "hate language," or slurs, hurt.
"People feel it's fine to use them openly, and I feel it's good we're coming out and saying, 'No, it's not acceptable and something has to be done,'" Superfisky said.
Less than a half-hour into the day, Chris Szmadzinski received his first reaction when a woman asked if a participant was hurt, then expressed relief that his injuries weren't real.
But Szmadzinski said the Act Out has a deeper meaning than that.
"They have to know this is real for me," said Szmadzinski, who has been a victim of violence in the past.
Most people took the rainbow flyers - the group passed out more than 7,000 in all - and a few had questions or comments.
"I had some people asking why they didn't have things like 'Goddamn' or 'Christ' on the sheets," said Mike Szmadzinski, a computer science freshman at Lansing Community College. "There are many more hate crimes than we have listed."
The flyers had slurs such as "homo," "dyke," "lame," "that's so gay," "boater," "idiot" and "bitch."
"We want to get across that hate language is a serious issue and people are silenced by it," said Nat Furrow, president of the Alliance of Lesbian-Bi-Gay-Transgendered and Straight Ally students.
The students had posts across campus, centered at Wells Hall, Bessey Hall, Berkey Hall and the MSU Union.
"One guy gave it back to me and said, 'Nah, I can't live without these words,'" said Franny Howes, president of PRIDE, the South Complex LBGT caucus. "People are careless when they talk, so even if they don't commit this list to memory, it's a continuing reminder that these words we just throw around have meaning, and very often it's negative."
