Students involved with the gay community had positive -- and enthusiastic -- responses to the announcement that comedic actress Ellen DeGeneres will enliven crowds April 6 at the Zellerbach Auditorium as Connaissance's featured spring speaker. DeGeneres -- one of the few well-known openly gay actresses in Hollywood -- became TV's only openly gay leading character in 1997 when her TV persona came out of the closet on a much-publicized episode of her since-cancelled television series Ellen. "I think it's great that she's coming," said Erin Cross, program coordinator of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Center. "I think it's wonderful that a lesbian speaker is being brought [to campus] by a mainstream organization." College and Engineering junior Andrew Byala, outgoing chairperson of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Association, said he was "absolutely thrilled" when he heard the announcement, adding that DeGeneres is a speaker who has been in the public eye and has brought issues of the gay community to light. "[I] haven't heard a single bad comment [about the announcement]," Byala said, adding that he expects the event to be popular among all students. Many students believe that DeGeneres' speech will have a positive effect on those who might stereotype gay people. "Sometimes straight people think all [gay people] focus on is our sexual orientation," Cross said. "There's so much more to [gay] people than that." College freshman Leily Saadat-Lajevard, one of the founders of Allies -- a group formed this year for straight people who are concerned with issues of the gay community -- agreed that DeGeneres' visit will have a positive impact on the way straight students view gay and bisexual people. "I have no doubt that her speech will impact the audience, who I think will be predominantly straight," Saadat-Lajevard said. "Hopefully [DeGeneres] will be able to show our homophobic campus that it's okay not to be straight." Most people said they think DeGeneres can have a large impact by providing humor while touching on the topic of her own homosexuality. "She's a pretty popular and admired figure," LGBC Director Bob Schoenberg said. "[I] certainly hope she talks about her coming out." Schoenberg stressed that DeGeneres will have a "pretty significant impact overall." Elizabeth Galewski, a second-year graduate student in the Annenberg School for Communication and co-chairperson of the Lambda Graduate Students Organization, agreed. "I hope that she'll tell lots of funny jokes and get people laughing and I hope that she gets people thinking about sexuality issues in the process," Galewski said.
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