Today the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered members of the university community and their supporters will meet for the 15th year to rally at Old Main.

This event begins Pride Week, which will feature some returning traditions from past years as well as include some new events.

Today's rally will feature speakers from the AT&T Center for Service Leadership, Lambda Student Alliance and Allies.

The annual Pride Week rally has been a staple event of the celebration in the past.

Late Night Penn State will sponsor a new event in conjunction with Pride Week this evening — the first annual Drag Ball.

Jennifer Storm, social director of LSA, said that students are encouraged to attend the event in drag, and that a drag queen Penn State alumnus will act as emcee for the event.

"We will be crowning Miss Drag Queen PSU and Mr. Drag King PSU," Storm said.

Two other drag queens will also perform at the ball.

The three drag queens will act as a panel of judges to decide who will be crowned the Miss Drag Queen PSU.

Saturday evening, the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance will sponsor Rock for Choice, an event that the group backs very semester.

"The general purpose is to say that women have the right to choose any aspect of their life," FMLA president Michelle Yates said.

Two acoustic musicians will perform at Rock for Choice. Various student groups including FMLA, LSA, Womyn's Concerns and Men Stopping Rape will have information tables at the concert.

Sunday's Pride Week events will be a potluck supper at Eisenhower Chapel followed by an affirmation service from VISION, an LGBT religious group.

On Monday, Webster's Bookstore Café, 128 S. Allen St., will hold an open mic night called Poetry and Pride.

Two events are scheduled for Wednesday evening. The Center for Counseling and Psychological Services will hold a Jeopardy-like game entitled The GAYME Show.

Mary McClanahan, a staff psychologist at CAPS and one of the organizers of the event, explained that it is to educate LGBT individuals about their own culture and history. According to McClanahan, this is the kind of information that biological families pass down, so the LGBT community may miss out on it.

"We emphasize trying to encompass both a historical range and a multicultural range," McClanahan said.

That same night, Allies is also holding one of its regular Straight But Not Narrow programs, which seeks to foster understanding of LGBT issues.

On Thursday, the movie But I'm a Cheerleader, which tells the story of a teen whose parents think she is a lesbian and send her to a sexual orientation conversion camp, will be screened.

Storm said the movie makes light of stereotypes and that Ru Paul is a member of the cast.

LSA will hold a Unity Prom again this year on Friday. Storm said that many LGBT students miss out on the excitement of high school proms or are unable to go with chosen partners.

"The point of having this prom is to give that rite of passage back to the students," Storm said.

Tickets for dinner at the prom, where two kings and two queens will be crowned, are almost sold out, but LSA plans to open the doors for dancing after the meal.

The final event of Pride Week, the Safer Sex Cabaret, is scheduled to occur on Saturday.

The location of the event is still being decided after conflicts with university administrators over content.

The cabaret is set to include student skits and information about alternatives to risky sexual activity.