Students rally to promote gay awareness

Bouquets of rainbow-colored balloons sprang up all over College Green yesterday in celebration of B-GLAD, the annual Bisexual Gay Lesbian Transgender Awareness Days. About 30 students, faculty and community members gathered at the Peace Sign for a rally at 12:30 p.m. to promote queer awareness, discuss their experiences and voice their concerns. Engineering junior Kurt Klinger, co-chair of the Queer Student Alliance, said the QSA hoped to increase its visibility through events such as these. "We're making more of an effort to be more visible on campus," he said. B-GLAD events will continue throughout the week, concluding with a party on Friday. Co-chair Mike Hartwyk, a College junior, also addressed the group's name change from the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Alliance to the Queer Student Alliance. "We feel [queer] is a more neutral term," he said, adding that although in the past the word was used in a derogatory sense, today "the times have changed," and queer people are "reclaiming the word." The rally opened with a talk from College sophomore Rudy Ramirez, who, wearing sparkling black and flashy purple clothing, quipped, "I was a bit concerned about wearing this outfit because I didn't want anyone to think I was gay." But in between his crowd-pleasing jokes, Ramirez spoke seriously about the many obstacles homosexuals face in society. Asking audience members to look at their hands, he said, "There are those who would rather cut off your hand than have you use it to love the way destiny has told you to use it." "I will love the way I choose," he added. Ramirez was followed by 1978 Penn alumnus David Azzolina, who spoke about the history of gays at Penn. Azzolina was one of the few undergraduate members of Gays at Penn, the campus group for gay people that existed in the 1970s. "Most of the gay men of my generation are dead," he said. "It is incumbent of you young gay men to not forget them." Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Center Director Bob Schoenberg read a statement from University President Judith Rodin and Provost Robert Barchi, who expressed their continued support for B-GLAD events. "Truly Penn is a place that thrives on its diversity? and the spark and spirit it brings to campus," the letter stated. Undergraduate Assembly Chairman Mike Silver, a College senior, also spoke at the rally, emphasizing the UA's increased effort to work closely with minority organizations. "In the past, the UA has not really made this effort," Silver acknowledged. Silver also spoke about the derogatory e-mail sent to the QSA listserv last week. "Just because we are an Ivy League school? doesn't mean we're immune to these things," he said. Many of the students and other members of the Penn community who came to the rally said they found it inspirational. Mike LaMonaca, a 1998 Penn alumnus and now an employee of College Housing and Academic Services, said he was impressed by the speakers. "I'm continually impressed by the queer students here and how they are able to be visible on campus and to foster the ideals of tolerance and acceptance," he said.

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