Last evening, about 50 students piled into 102 Thomas to discuss the politics of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community on the Penn State campus.
The program, titled "The LGBTQA Political Forum," was hosted by SpeakOut and the Penn State College Democrats and was part of National Coming Out Week, which is being celebrated by students on campus all week.
SpeakOut is a social justice and political action organization that advocates for fair and just treatment of all Penn State community members, inclusive of gender identity, gender expression, and/or sexual and affectional orientation.
Kathleen Best (sophomore-biology), College Democrats secretary, said she believed the forum provided for a "healthy discussion."
"This allows people to get together and spread ideas," Best said. "It reduces hate speech and conflicts that are caused by ignorance."
The forum was split into two parts. The first addressed lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and allies (LGBTQA) issues on a national level. The second half of the forum addressed issues that hit closer to the classroom -- campus climate.
The facilitators started the forum by going over basic terms such as gender, sex, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer.
College Democrats President Enrique Ortiz (senior-political science), who believed it was important to have the forum, said he thinks these issues aren't addressed on campus, and some not even in society.
"It's important because some of our members are part of the LBGTQA community," Ortiz said. "We're bringing something that's worth talking about and that addresses the issues."
Discussion ranged from issues about homophobia within the LGBTQA community to members of the community being shunned for activism on any level. Transgender rights and gay marriage were also topic points.
Nicole Barrett (senior-psychology), SpeakOut treasurer and forum facilitator, said the program was also good for those outside of the LGBTQA community.
"A lot of people don't know what it's like to be part of the LGBT community," Barrett said. "These are issues that a lot of people know about but don't get the chance to talk about."
During the topic of gay marriage, several students opposed traditional marriage all together, believing it should be separate from religion where people are able to declare their love for each other with all the same rights that marriage guarantees.
Other students believed that marriage rights should be an all-or-nothing deal, with straight and gay couples having the same rights or no one having them at all.
One student said, "America is a theocracy," further explaining that anything outside the devoutly Christian scope of America doesn't matter.
"It's important for LGBT people to speak," Barrett said.
The second half of the forum discussed issues related to the Penn State climate when concerning LGBTQA issues. "Letters to the editor" from The Daily Collegian about the conservative LGBTQA climate at Penn State were also shown and discussed.
"This isn't a political issue, it's an equality issue," Ortiz said. "We want to connect the community to a good cause."
Other events during National Coming Out Week include a rally on the steps of Old Main at noon tomorrow and student drag show at 10:30 p.m. Friday in HUB Alumni Hall.
