Penn State student Adam Stallard has found self-fulfillment through Christianity and being gay.

"[Being gay] is often frowned upon as being immoral, but that's only one perspective," Stallard (junior-chemical engineering) said. "It hasn't stopped me from praying. It hasn't stopped me from reading the Bible or expressing my faith to others."

Helping to organize Shalem -- a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) interfaith spiritual group -- is one more way Stallard is continuing his faith.

"I feel that there's a widening gap between the LGBT community and the faith community, and there shouldn't be," he said. "The group will be able to help me through that with basically just talking to other students who share the same views."

Group founder Jason Lally (senior-information sciences and technology) said Shalem will provide a place for the many spiritual LGBT students who may feel ostracized from their religion.

"We do have a group of people who are devoted to spirituality, to causes of social justice, and reaching out in love and things like that," he said. "The purpose of the group is to show LGBT persons are more than one-dimensional figures. We care about spiritual issues. I don't know if people realize that."

While the group is still in its organizational phase, Lally said it should be granted official status the week after spring break if the paperwork is approved.

Shalem is Lally's second attempt at creating an LGBT spiritual group for students. Last year, he formed Renew, a group focusing specifically on LGBT issues in Catholicism, but was unable to find enough leadership to sustain the club after his upcoming graduation this spring.

"I just didn't see it lasting after I graduated, but Shalem pulls from a larger group of people, so it's easier for leadership and things like that," he said. "[Renew] is still a useful group. I'm going to try to find someone that can 'renew' the group, so to speak."

Making Shalem an interfaith group will improve the club in more ways than sustainability, Lally said.

"The goal of this group is to try to reach more people equitably so more people from more faith communities are served," he said. "Muslim groups and Eastern religions have a very, very hard time with these issues. This group kind of opens up to let all of those people in without making those people practice any certain type of faith."

The group has held several organizational meetings with a core group of about 10 people, mostly Christians, Lally said.

"That happened just by chance," he said. "But everyone in the group is committed to opening it up and having multiple faiths there."

The group plans to hold various activities general enough for all faiths, which include meditating or praying, watching and discussing movies that deal with spirituality and lesbian and gay issues, creating a Web site for anonymous correspondence, and hosting joint projects with other spiritual groups, along with additional social events.

Although there are many student religion groups, one that brings homosexuality and religion together is groundbreaking, group member Francis Kredensor (junior-meteorology) said.

"It's definitely something new at Penn State and the country," he said. "There are some [national] organizations that deal with this, but it's not as much as it could be or as it should be."

But members of Shalem are not trying to make a political statement, said group adviser Davin Carr-Chellman, who also serves as the Pasquerilla Spiritual Center's assistant director of ethics and religious affairs.

"Really, this is about people who want to live their lives holistically," he said. "It isn't about making a statement or being controversial. It's about making sure we're whole, healthy creatures."