Gay-Lesbian Awareness Days Begin

A six-day series of events to raise consciousness about homosexuals on campus will begin tonight with an Adams House open meeting, said members of the Gay and Lesbian Students Association (GLSA), which is organizing the awareness programs.

Ranging from the academic to the social, events throughout the Gay and Lesbian Awareness Days (GLAD)--including panel discussions on gay-lesbian issues, a coffeehouse and a dance--will continue this week and culminate in a final day of activities Saturday, April 18, organizers said.

"The main objective is to make people in the community more aware of gay-lesbian issues and gay-lesbian students in the environment," said GLSA co-president, Mathew J. Bank '88, who saidthat many of the programs are geared towardheterosexuals.

The gay student group, which has not sponsoredan awareness week since the '83-'84 school year,has launched a full-scale effort to educate theHarvard community, he said.

The total cost for the events will be about$2,000, paid for primarily with grants from theUndergraduate Council, the Radcliffe Union ofStudents and Education for Action, said KenroKusumi '88, the treasurer of GLSA.

He said that publicity for the events has beenmore extensive than in the past. The group will betabling the campus dining halls throughout theweek, giving out buttons with pink triangles, thesymbol of support for gay rights. GLSA will alsodistribute an informational pamphlet to allundergraduates on Friday, said organizers.

"We tried hard to make everything free, exceptfor the dance," said Bank, who added that theorganization hoped that free events would attractmore students.

"We tried to make a lot of the presentationsnot for the specialists who already know aboutthese issues but for people who don't know," saidBank.

While there is little open harassment of gayson campus, the environment is such that many gaysdo not feel comfortable being open about theirhomosexuality, said GLSA Vice-President David H.Warren '88-'89.

"There's a difference between being comfortableabout [homosexuality] yourself and beingcomfortable telling people in your house orconcentration," Warren said