Name game

LGBSA name change will produce all-inclusive image

The Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Student Alliance is seeking a name change that will better represent all its members.

With a new name, the organization's members hope to be more inclusive of all sexual orientations and genders, Duane Gildea, political co-director, said. The current name is a hindrance to that goal because of the assumptions it implies, Gildea said.

"We know that our name was making some people uncomfortable," Gildea said. "It's not OK to assume that everyone who comes to a meeting is gay, lesbian or bisexual. They could be heterosexual allies or transgendered people or people who refuse to be boxed into a category."

The main issue has been whether to add a "T" to the acronym LGBSA in order to include transgendered people, McCann said. But members of the group thought it would be best to create a new name rather than add more letters to the existing name, he said.

- Duane Gildea, political co-director

The name change will not be the first that LGBSA has experienced, said John Bell, University staff member and LGBSA alumnus. When Bell was an undergraduate student in 1985, the group was called LGSA. The "B," representing bisexuals, was not added until 1987. Long before that, however, the organization was chartered in 1971 as HOPS, Homophiles of Penn State, Bell said.

Bell said the name is not the most important factor of an organization's success, but it is crucial to making the public perception of the group accurate.

"Certainly actions are more important than words, but the name is instrumental in how people perceive us and how we perceive ourselves as queer people," he said.

The current name change consideration is a necessary change, McCann said, but there will be risks involved.

"LGBSA has built a name for itself at this institution and by changing its name we would lose a lot of recognition," he said, "but we feel the need to be inclusive of all the members."