Wednesday night, a room in the Chemistry building. A tan, muscular, handsome guy, collar popped, entered Room 304 and sat down at a chair facing the audience. A few moments later, he began telling his story.
The Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender (LGBT) Resource Center hosted a Speaker's Bureau Wednesday night featuring a panel of graduate and undergraduate students who spoke on their lifestyles at the University before the floor was opened for questions.
Wednesday night's speaker forum was the second this year. While the aim of this forum was to focus on the Engineering School and first-year students, the forum held last fall did not have a specific focus. In any case, the Bureaus are always open to the public.
Fourth-year College student Demere Woolway, who interns for the LGBT Resource Center, moderated the event. In her opening statement, she described the Bureau as a window into what life is like for the panelists. She also mentioned the panelists do not represent the community as a whole but were merely there to share their own "real life" experiences.
Woolway said they chose to focus on the Engineering School and first years because the LGBT community feels that these groups' needs are not being met. But the forum was not restricted to discussion of these groups.
"We are here to talk about different issues in the LGBT community," Woolway said.
She said the Speaker's Bureaus are the most visible project of the LGBT Resource Center.
"It's about outreach in the community," she said.
The goal of the Bureaus, according to Woolway, is to try to increase tolerance in the University community.
"People who know a gay person are more likely to be tolerant," Woolway said. "It can also be helpful to attend and hear the stories for the future, for example, if you were to encounter a situation in your job."
One aspect Woolway said she would like to see improve is attendance. She said people who are gay, bisexual or questioning tend to already know about the experience and therefore sometimes do not see the point in attending such events. On the other hand, people who are not gay also do not see the point in attending because they may not see how it could affect them.
Nonetheless, the Speaker's Bureau of the LGBT Resource Center is able to attract an audience by other means. It frequently is offered to classes, fraternities, sororities and residence halls.
"The forum provides faces and stories for people," Woolway said.
Going to fraternities and sororities is part of a diversity requirement for the Greek system, according to Woolway. She said she hopes to educate and share stories to which people may not normally be exposed through these avenues.
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