Timothy Gates asked people to do a little imagining last night.
"What if you were to discover that, say Grant Hill or Janet Jackson or some other famous person was gay?" asked Gates, an Engineering senior who spoke in the Michigan Union as part of a panel on gay culture and experience.
As instructed, all 30 people in the room closed their eyes and envisioned the scene. "How would you react if you yourself came to the realization that you were gay?" he said.
Gates and five other student speakers came together to discuss issues that affect gay minorities in one of the first gatherings put on by the new student group All Us. Formed this past September, All Us is a student coalition aimed at supporting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered students of color.
Other topics discussed during the hourlong panel discussion were the media's portrayal of minority gay men, the experience of coming out to the minority community, and impressions that panelists gained from the National Black Gay and Lesbian Conference, which was held recently in Long Beach, Calif.
Engineering sophomore Kenneth Jones addressed the issue of what it actually means to come out. He said two of the most important components are "letting the community know we exist" and "being an ally of respective (groups on campus)."
All Us Chair and Engineering sophomore James Corley, Jr. said he started All Us so minority gay students would have an organization they could call their own. "I wasn't satisfied with the people of color number I saw in (Queer Unity Project)," Corley said. "I didn't feel like I was being represented or the issues were being met."
The group has about 30 members and is working on organizing a "building bridges" dialogue and its own Web page.
Rackham student Gail Drakes said she has high hopes for the new group.
"I'm just really excited to see a group like All Us that's interested in bringing together people of color and lesbian, gay, bisexual communities - realizing that there are people who exist in these communities simultaneously," she said.
"I'm looking forward to the events they sponsor in the future," Drakes said.
Rackham doctoral candidate Pilgrim Spikes spoke about the sense of community he experienced at the Long Beach conference. "I understood what it's like to be a majority for once," he said.
Jones closed his remarks by mentioning Antoine Blaine, a fictional movie reviewer on the program "In Living Color."
"I am no Antoine Blaine ... I am someone's son, I am someone's grandson ... I am me," Jones said.
JOHN KRAFT/Daily
Engineering students David Carter, Pilgrim Spikes and Timothy Lee Gates gather last night at a meeting of All Us, a group supporting gay minority students.