LGBT events planned

The celebration of Queer Visibility Week will incorporate a combination of education and entertainment to promote awareness of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered issues at the University this month.

Several student groups are sponsoring events that will run from Sunday to next Friday to help promote LGBT pride as part of an annual winter semester event. Programs will include films, speakers and the annual Kiss-in.

LSA junior Emily Marker, a co-coordinator of the Queer Unity Project, said the goal of the week is to reach out to students of all sexual orientations.

"It's about outreach really," Marker said. "A dialogue within the University community."

Marker said the upcoming week will be full of festivities and will give students a chance learn from each other.

"It's just to get queer visibility on campus," Marker said.

RC junior Neela Ghoshal, a co-coordinator of the Queer Unity Project, said the celebration will help remind students that members of the homosexual community do not fit into societal stereotypes.

"It's good for the community in general to be reminded of our presence," Ghoshal said. "It's a week of expressing pride in our identity."

Ghoshal said that in the past, reactions to the week have been mixed. But this year, the commemoration has been met more positively.

"Everyone is welcome," Ghoshal said. "As long as there is no silence around, it can be education."

Engineering junior Timothy Gates, who co-chairs ALLUS, the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender group for minorities, said the celebration is intended to break down barriers between groups of students.

"We strive for respect," Gates said. "One of the purposes (of the week is to show) we come in all ranges of sizes of color, races and disciplines."

Gates encouraged all students to attend the week's events, adding that they will be open to the University community.

Gates said a few of the films that are scheduled to be shown next week will depict the lifestyle of a gay, male minority. As a student of color who is homosexual, Gates said he has received positive responses from his peers.

"Speaking from (an) African American point of view, there is a strong sense of religious kind of upbringing instilled," Gates said. "Basic social inacceptance exists in a lot of minorities."

Gates said that while the University community is generally accepting of homosexuality, it is difficult for homosexual students to accept themselves.

"I find it comforting not that people necessarily like my lifestyle, but they are not going to let that interfere with the daily ongoings of the University community," he said.

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