AU hosted a forum on Monday filled with panels, presentations and film screenings on gay rights and issues to emphasize public awareness of those issues, according to Nicholas Shigeru Sakurai, program coordinator of the GLBTA Resource Center, which sponsored the event.
"The goal of the colloquium is to increase networking between all the departments and provide a space to showcase the work of the professors and a place for the public to learn," Sakurai said.
While the colloquium was interesting and insightful for many of the participants and visitors, the number of people who attended was low. The number of participants in many of the sessions filled up less than half of the room. In the "Marital Abuses" session, less than 10 people attended.
"In order to have a wider discourse on all these issues, the issues need to be more broadly discussed," said Beth Soderberg, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences. "While the sessions were good, it was not widely attended. There needs to be more involvement with the general public."
Separated into three sessions, visitors were given the opportunity to listen as well as participate in different panel discussions about the historical and political aspects of the gay community portrayed in the media and in case studies.
In a session titled "Marital Abuses: The State of 'Same-sex' Marriage and Rights in the United States," Peter Brusoe, a Ph.D. student in the department of government, shared his findings on how voters' prior partisan beliefs played a role in voting decisions concerning GLBT rights. According to Brusoe, mass opinion shows that most voters fall in the moderate opinion ranges on GLBT rights. In Brusoe's chart analysis, the accumulation of votes in GLBT issues, such as health care benefits for same-sex couples, from a random sample of 1,000 people were examined.
At the same session, Michelle Marzullo, a Ph.D. student in the department of anthropology and American studies, shared her findings on the political and moral aspects of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and state-based "mini-DOMAs." According to Marzullo, the passage of DOMA will allow the elites to gain political power and decrease the rights of same-sex couples and eliminate same-sex marriage.
Another session was a film screening titled "Milind Soman Made Me Gay: Memories of Home and Abroad." Writer and director Harjant Gill, a Ph.D. student in the anthropology department, explored the lives of gay South Asian men as they balance their sexual identity with their religious and cultural beliefs. In the documentary, Gill explored his own identity as a gay man and an Indian.
According to Leena Jayaswal, a professor in the film and media arts division of the School of Communication, one's place of origin in India defines his identity. Gill's documentary showed that he did not want to be judged based on his skin color; rather, he wanted to create his own identity.
"I no longer wanted to be defined [by the fact] that I was born in India," Gill said.
The documentary provoked contemplation of race and identity among AU students not just in the gay culture, but in society as a whole.
"The film was very thought-provoking, and it was a creative way to begin to explore the issues of race, sexuality, ethnicity, immigration and identity," said Cheryl Llewellyn, a master's student in the sociology department.
The audience witnessed Gill's path to discovering his identity behind his skin color through his documentary.
"It was interesting how Mr. Gill presented his identity and flux in regards to his identity and flux in regards to his nationality, sexuality and gender," said Chad Kistler, a junior in CAS.
