Friday's sunshine illuminated a world of colors outside Old Main, where bright balloons swayed in the wind and about 100 students gathered, many wearing rainbow ribbons and pink T-shirts.

"Speak up, speak out and be proud!" Allies Vice President Ben Holsinger told members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and its allies (LGBTA) at the annual Pride Week rally.

The rally, sponsored by Allies, declared the community's ongoing fight for legal and social justice.

"It is an unequal and unfair world," Holsinger said to the crowd. "We won't stop until every person from every walk of life has equal rights."

During the rally, student leaders spoke on Old Main steps, looking down on the large crowd that congregated below. Although a technical glitch caused the microphone to cut out at the beginning of the rally, the speakers continued by yelling their messages to the crowd.

"We are here to stand proud of who we are," Allies President Christy Merchant said. "But there is work to be done, whether it is your struggle, or someone else's."

Merchant said LGBT students at Penn State have faced various forms of discrimination because of their sexual orientation, including assaults, offensive name-calling and acts of vandalism.

She added that despite its struggles, the community has seen the emergence of new student organizations like Shalem, an interfaith LGBT group, and Undertones, a support group for LGBT minority students.

"Our community is growing instead of hiding," Merchant said.

Undergraduate Student Government (USG) President Galen Foulke pledged USG's support for the LGBT community and said this has not been an easy year for the LGBT community.

"But when has it ever been easy?" he asked the crowd.

On Feb. 17, a letter to the editor printed in The Daily Collegian referred to a photo of a gay couple and a lesbian couple kissing as "disgusting" and "pathetic."

The Collegian received hundreds of letters to the editor in support of the LGBT community after the original letter was published, Merchant said.

Letter-writing campaigns, voting, community support and educating one's self about the history of the gay rights movement are all ways that people can help bring about change, Holsinger said.

Kim Jasorka (senior-English education) said she thought the crowd would be bigger.

"I thought there would be more people here, but the speakers were incredible. Each person drove one solid point," she said.

One student said the event was important for both supporters and those people who oppose gays.

"They should come out and see what it's about," Thomas Strouse (sophomore-international politics) said. "The greatest problem is ignorance."

Speaker Jason Lally (senior-information sciences and technology) compared Friday's sunny weather to the evolution of Pride Week 2005 and the gay rights movement as a whole.

"We began in the doldrums and rain," he said, "and came out on the other side in beautiful sunshine."