Last month's Bisexual, Gay and Lesbian Awareness Days were the most successful in 10 years, Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Association Chairperson Jason Walthall said last week. Walthall said that more students attended the events this year than any other year. "[Keynote speaker] Harvey Fierstein drew around 700 people," he said. "That's more than P.J. O'Rourke and [the Social Planning and Events Committee] could draw." Walthall said that this was also the first year that BGLAD invited two main speakers, Tony award-winning playwright, actor and director Fierstein, and Urvashi Vaid, the former director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. "BGLAD just gets more ambitious every year," he said. College senior Michael Sluchan, co-cordinator of BGLAD, said last week the rest of the week's events drew crowds. "Almost all events were well-attended," he said. "With high attendance at events, I think we were reaching out to a lot of people." In addition to the good attendance at BGLAD events, the week drew both gay and heterosexual audience members. "At many events, we got a good mix of people," he said. "I know at Harvey Fierstein's speech there were a good mix of gay and straight people. [And] at the [lesbian poet] Audre Lorde program there were interests from both straight and gay community." Sluchan added that one of the events he helped organize -- a session which focused on how members of the Greek community could foster a supportive atmosphere for lesbians, gays and bisexuals -- was also a good example of heterosexual involvement in the week. "About 45 people came to our Greek program -- 'My Best Friend is Gay' -- which was co-sponsored by the Greek Social Action Committee," he said. "[The program] was a step in the right direction. We addressed a lot of issues that don't usually get addressed." Sluchan added that he felt the program showed there is support for gays, lesbians and bisexuals in the Greek community. "Morris Massel, the director of the Inter-Fraternity Council, went," he said. "I thought that was a great show of support. We've also spoken to some of the Greeks that were there about follow-up awareness events in their houses." Walthall added that many co-sponsors of BGLAD week, like GSAC, were not bisexual, lesbian or gay organizations, which he said was encouraging. "That's the purpose of BGLAD," he said. "It's an awareness week that should involve everyone." In addition to the 13 bisexual, lesbian and gay groups that were involved with BGLAD, other groups including the Christian Association, the Jewish Feminist Collaborative and the South Asian Society, also sponsored some events. Sluchan said that University support was crucial to the success of the awareness week. "All the groups we approached about co-sponsorships were very receptive," he said. "I think that's a real testament to Penn." But Sluchan added that the support during BGLAD week should not end with the awareness events. "The trick is to maintain the momentum of BGLAD and not just shuffle back into the closet after the week is over," he said. "We need to make sure people know about us and are aware of lesbian, gay and bisexual issues."
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