The HUB-Robeson Gallery has been converted into a church with hundreds of stoles -- or religious robes -- in a rainbow of colors dangling from the ceilings, hanging on the walls and even draping over a faux pulpit.

The gallery has been transformed for a new exhibit Shower of Stoles, a project that represents the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people of faith in communities all over the world.

"The exhibit consists of hundreds of stoles from 23 denominations and five countries," Ann Shields, head of HUB-Robeson Galleries, said. "They are done by or for LGBT people active in their spiritual communities."

Shields said the exhibit is a way to visualize the intolerance of LGBT members of many religions.

"The Shower of Stoles exhibit is on display as a witness to the mission to end ecclesiastic discrimination," she said.

The stoles range from turquoise to tan and contain the story or the name of an LGBT person who is actively serving in the religious community. Many of the stoles also represent people in the community who have been excluded from worship because of their sexual orientations.

"The exhibit is part of a larger project," Lauren Chyle, art publicist for the HUB-Robeson Gallery, said. "The project began as a small movement, collecting stoles from LGBT people who were active in their churches, and grew into what it is today, a nationwide collection of thousands of stoles and other religious objects."

Chyle said the exhibit is important because there is still a lot of controversy surrounding LGBT issues and religion.

"It's trying to bring more awareness to all the turmoil that surrounds the church and the LGBT community, as in with same-sex marriage," she said.

Eric Patridge, co-director for the coalition of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and allied graduate students, saw the exhibit at his undergraduate college and wanted to bring it to Penn State.

"Shower of Stoles shows support within the various religions within the LGBT community," Patridge said. "It provides a great connection to the religious community that supports its LGBT members."

Shields said she agreed to Patridge's idea to bring the exhibit to the gallery because she thinks the idea behind it is important for students.

"Religion is to teach us to love, and the university is to teach us tolerance; it seemed like a perfect fit," she said. "There is so much controversy right now, and it needs to be continued to be discussed. Hopefully the exhibit will instigate more conversation about these important issues."

Although many people within the Christian community are represented with the stoles, Patridge said it was hard to find contributions from many different religions.

"We really tried to make it multicultural, but it was very difficult. We tried, but couldn't find anyone that had stoles to represent Muslims, Native Americans or people of many other faiths," he said. "If anyone has an object that does stand for the LGBT people of such religions, they should contact the program."

The exhibit is being shown at an important time because it ties in with the campus's Pride Week, Chyle said.

"The exhibit will make students aware of the different people around them," she said. "It's also a nice way to recognize and represent the contributions the LGBT members have made to their faith."

Patridge said that just being in the gallery is a great experience.

"To just sit there for five minutes and take it all in -- it's amazing," he said.