Promoting change in LGBT community

Northern Michigan University’s 8th Annual UNITED conference continued Wednesday with a unique way of talking about the LGBT community.

The “Everyone is Gay” session was about promoting change and awareness around, and beyond, LGBT issues.  The presenters used humor as a way to grab students attention to help them relate to the presentation.

“Humor is the cornerstone of our entire organization, and a big part of that is because we get such a good response from it,” Founder of Everyone is Gay Dannielle Owens-Reid said. “It’s so much easier to understand how you can be an advocate and not an activist.  Using humor really opens up people’s minds and they pay more attention because the one thing we all have in common is we all laugh.”

Owens–Reid said questions and issues LGBT community face are similar to problems straight people have, such as wanting acceptance and feeling like they fit in.

She added one the most important things people can do is be positive and nice to everyone, no matter their sexual orientation.

“There’s still a lot of people who feel like ‘I’m not seeing this part of me, so this isn’t something real so it’s not something I can be myself, I can’t feel comfortable’,” Owens-Reid said.  “So it’s nice to be out there, saying something–anything–positive about the LGBT community, and making people feel like they belong and they’re a part of something.”

For more information on the presentation, you can visit everyoneisgay.com.

The UNITED conference wraps up Thursday afternoon.