Some Holmes Hall residents have posted signs boasting "straight" on their doors in response to a gay man possibly moving onto their floor. Community members say the North Halls posting follows a high number of dorm incidents widely considered homophobic.

"I'm not against gays, but I want people to know I'm not gay," said one resident on the floor. "I have to tell people I'm from North and I'm not gay."

"We're advertising our sexual orientation," added another resident.

A house meeting was to be held last night to discuss the postings, but a resident assistant said that because of confidentiality concerns he could not discuss the incident or identify the parties involved.

While residents interviewed said they were not homophobic, such incidents are widely regarded as anti-gay and divert from the tolerant attitude University administrators and student leaders have tried to promote during the last year.

"They gave a different message -- the message not that they're not gay, but that they're homophobic," said Terrell Jones, special assistant to the vice provost for academic services and interim University representative to underrepresented groups.

"One gay person in your residence hall shouldn't do anything to your sexuality," Jones said.

Calling the recent incident "irresponsible," Jon Elliott, the president of the North Halls Residence Association, said residents should have contacted Housing and Food Services if they had a problem with a new resident.

"North Halls is definitely not immune to homophobia, especially with the reputation we've been given -- (some residents) want to rebel against that reputation," Elliott said.

While homophobic actions occur both on and off campus, such incidents frequently occur in dorms, said Lora Nace, co-director of Lesbian and Gay Student Alliance.

"I used to be enraged, but they happen so frequently, you become kind of numb. The key is awareness," Nace said.

LGSA organizes "Straight Talks" to educate people about gay men and lesbians, she said, but often the people that would most benefit from the talks do not attend.

Gail Hurley, director of Residence Hall Programs, said many homophobic incidents reported in the dorms are related to anti-homophobia signs being torn down, reflecting poorly on the University's goal of a diverse community.

"We have a diverse community," she said. "We ought to appreciate that, celebrate that, feel good about that."

Trying to promote a more diverse community, the University is sponsoring a lecture series on lesbian and gay issues and has begun an advertising campaign aimed at heightening awareness of underrepresented groups.

The University last month also revised the Acts of Intolerance policy stating Penn State has "a mandate to address problems of a society deeply ingrained with bias and prejudice."

Under the revision, however, enforcement cannot "impose disciplinary sanctions upon . . . expression when it is otherwise in compliance with University regulations."

Often the number of incidents depend on the resident assistant's policy of reporting incidents, Mich Wong-Chong, an LGSA member, said. If the resident assistant has a strict intolerance of homophobic actions, the level of homophobic incidents on a floor is lower, she said.

To become a resident assistant, candidates must participate in a program that shows them how to handle incidents among residents involving discrimination or harassment.

Most homophobic incidents reported in dorms involve freshmen reacting to a gay floor member, she added. Wong-Chong blamed this on pressure to conform.

She said when she lived in a residence hall as a freshman, people would not talk to her because of her sexual orientation.

"To have no one to talk to is really frightening," Wong-Chong said.

"It's a new situation -- (the freshmen) encounter all new people," said Jeff Kemp, another LGSA member, who said homophobia was a problem when he lived in the dorms last year.

Kemp recalled one incident in which anti-gay graffiti was written on walls in the bathroom, but quickly removed by the resident assistant.

LGSA member Brian McKernan said several people in his dorm threatened him physically when they learned of his sexual orientation. McKernan said he also suffered verbal abuse and residents continually ripped papers and memos from his door.

"Things happen all year long --usually gay men more than gay women, because men in general harass more," he said.