Delta Zeta, Zeta Beta Tau and Phi Kappa Psi hosted a panel of “Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays” (PFLAG) speakers last Wednesday at the Soroptimist House.
The panel consisted of four speakers: Brenda Thompson, Angie Kiel, Gary Michovich and Pat Magee. The event started with each speaker telling nearly 100 audience members their individual stories.
Thompson spoke of her 27-year-old gay son; Kiel and Michovich discussed their experiences when they came out to their families and Magee opened up about transitioning from female to male.
The speakers were honest about their thoughts and feelings, creating a relaxed atmosphere for questions. The audience of mostly female students asked questions, but one of the main focuses was the passage of Proposition 8.
“I never felt like a second class citizen, but that day I did and we did it to ourselves,” Kiel said when asked how she felt on Election Day. “Britney Spears — 52 hours she was married — and she was on the cover of every magazine. We all thought it was hilarious, but she has more rights than I do and that sucks; it’s not equal.”
Kiel also said she should have been speaking more proactive to people about Proposition 8 to help them to understand that by voting ‘yes,’ they were affecting her.
“Opposite sex individuals can marry as many times they please without even being questioned.” said Shaunna Campbell, a junior hospitality foodservice and hotel management major. “The [idea] that because they cannot get married, same-sex couples automatically get the stereotype of being promiscuous, which if you ask me, is society handing them a label by prohibiting them from the thing that will get rid of that label.”
When speaking about Proposition 8, Magee said gender isn’t determined by a single characteristic — it is a complicated matter.
“I didn’t transition to become a transsexual or a transgender person,” Magee said. “I transitioned to be me and to feel like I’m comfortable.”
The reported April 15 on campus attack of Colle Carpenter, a CSULB student, was not the main focus of this event, though both the panel and the audience mentioned it.
“Having somebody carve ‘it’ on the chest of a transgender person is equivalent of carving a swastika on the chest of a Jewish person or the N-word on an African American — it’s that serious … it spreads fear amongst everybody when one person is attacked just because of who they are.”
“I’m really happy I was able to make it to this event,” said Stacey Casas, a junior international studies major. “Although I have always been supportive, it was nice to have the opportunity to openly ask questions about their experiences. It helped me to gain a better understanding of what it’s like to be gay or a transgender person.”
“I wanted to get a first person account of the difficulties that homosexual, transgender, and those who love them, go through,” Campbell said.
For more than 35 years, PFLAG’s purpose is to “promote the health and well-being of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons, their families and friends.” They do this by providing support, education and advocacy through dialogue. PFLAG is nonprofit and has more than 500 chapters across the nation.
The panel’s parting comment was that college students are in a great position to mentor others, and should respect everyone because it is not OK to discriminate and harm others for any reason.
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