Activist to discuss equality

MT Lambda Association and Amnesty International are hosting two events to discuss civil rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students on Nov. 18.

MTSU chapters of Lambda Association, a gay-straight alliance organization, and Amnesty International, a human rights organization, are working together to host a week of events, including a lecture by Cat Stevens, an LGBT activist from San Francisco and a screening of the movie "Pedro."

Brenda Navarro, junior philosophy and global studies major and president of Amnesty International, said the organization worked with MT Lambda to put together the activities and the organization is focusing on LGBT issues in the month of November.

Richard Glatzer's "Pedro," a story of the first openly gay reality television star and his struggle with AIDS, will be played Thursday at 6 p.m. as part of the events.

Brandon Thomas, sophomore liberal arts major and member of MT Lambda, said he thinks there are many lessons students will learn from watching "Pedro."

"I think they'll get a different view of life, of having aids and the struggles of coming out way back in the ‘90s," Thomas said.

Navarro said Stevens, events coordinator for the Charles D. Holmes Campus At The Center - an LGBT organization in San Francisco - will be giving a lecture on Nov. 18 at 6 p.m. in the Cason-Kennedy Nurses Building Room 106 followed by a brief question-and-answer session.

"She'll be talking about different issues pertaining to the LGBT movement," Navarro said. "It's mainly her talking about her role in the LGBT movement in San Francisco and Proposition 8."

The Franchise Tax Board for the state of California stated on its Web site, "Proposition 8 was approved by the voters on Nov. 4, 2008, and it amended the California Constitution to provide that ‘only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.'"

"This week we're just focusing on educating the public," Navarro said.

Navarro said she thinks MTSU is a gay friendly campus.

"We just need to work on being transgender friendly now," Navarro said.

"There are going to be LGBT non-discrimination issues statewide that we're going to have to deal with, and I think it would be important for MTSU students to get involved in that because they haven't been historically in the past," Thomas said.