BGLSA `Coming Out' Events Scheduled

Hoping to support gay students at Harvard coming to terms with their sexuality, the Bisexual, Gay and Lesbian Students Association (BGLSA) will mark National Coming Out Day tonight with a series of speakers and a film presentation.

The event is designed to provide support for gays students coming out of the closet and to inform them of the resources available for them at the University, organizers said.

"The point of National Coming Out Day is for people to take the next step in coming out, and for the rest of the community to provide a supportive environment for them," said Lily S. Khadjavi '90, who is coordinating today's program. "People shouldn't feel that they must be closeted because of their sexual orientation."

Among the speakers will be Assistant Dean of Coeducation Janet A. Viggiani, the coordinator of the Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Issues Network, a College-sponsored organization begun last year to support gay students.

Viggiani said in an interview last night that she will discuss gay rights and homophobia at Harvard.

Kelly Dermody '89-'90, former BGLSA co-chair, and Clarissa C. Kripke '89, a founder of the gay rights organization Defeat Homophobia, will also speak at the event, organizers said.

This year marks the second National Coming Out Day, which was started in 1988 to coincide with the first anniversary of a large gay rights march on Washington, D.C. Organizers said the annual observance was designed to "increase the visibility and tolerance of gay people in the United States and on college campuses," said Khadjavi, co-vice chair of BGLSA.

BGLSA plans to show a film about the march, organizers said.

Jarrett T. Barrios '90-'91, BGLSA co-chair, said he expected the majority ofpeople attending the program to be gay, but addedthat heterosexual students were welcome.

"We want people to know that homophobia isunacceptable and inhuman anywhere," Barrios said."We bisexual, gay and lesbian students of Harvardare asking to be treated as equals, as other humanbeings."

BGLSA is also encouraging students to wear pinktriangle pins to demonstrate the wearer's"intolerance of discrimination on the basis ofsexual orientation," said Khadjavi