Channeling game-show host Alex Trebek, CAPS representatives responded to daily double bids and requests to take "Gay Marriage for 500 dollars" in Thursday night's Gayme Show, as a part of LGBTA Pride Week.
In the Jeopardy-style Gayme Show, or "Gay Me Show," as Stephen Shetler called it, teams answered questions focused on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) issues and history. Some categories included 'LGBT Myths,' 'We are Penn State,' 'Gay Marriage' and 'Health.'
The audience was split into three teams for the "Gayme."
"The intention was not to make competition," said Shetler, a Center for Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) psychologist and "openly gay man."
"Our reasons were two-fold. One to put a face to CAPS and two, to cover issues gay-related in a fun way," he said.
Though Shetler initially warned participants about the questions' difficulty, few went unanswered. Many participants said they gained new knowledge.
"What didn't we learn?" Kelsey Porcek (freshman-business) said.
Questions tested participants' knowledge on topics ranging from humorous ones on pop-culture icons like former 'NSYNC member Lance Bass to sobering subjects like the fact that homophobia does not only exist in heterosexuals.
Some questions referenced LGBT life at Penn State. One asked who the directors of the LGBTA Student Resource center were.
"I can't raise my hand for that," Claire Gonyo said, laughing. Gonyo, the assistant director of the LGBTA Student Resource Center, was a member of one of the three participating teams.
CAPS representatives not only revealed the correct answers at Thursday's event, but they also shared their research with the teams, hoping to "get people thinking," Shetler said.
The final Jeopardy-style question asked was when talk show host compared Proposition 8's wording to a confusing question like 'You don't want dessert, right?'
The three teams placed their wagers, but only one gave the correct one: Ellen DeGeneres.
For the past 15 years, CAPS has sponsored the Gayme Show, which is a part of the CAPS Personal Issue Series.
"It seemed like a fun pride week event and was a nice break from the lectures," James Habeeb said (junior-English).
