Two representatives from the Hetric-Martin Institute, a New York City-based educational group that offers services to gay, lesbian and bisexual youths, lead a discussion about sexuality and homophobia with a group of more than 40 people last night in Rockefeller Center.
The workshop, sponsored by the Dartmouth Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Organization, is part of a road show the institute takes to numerous organizations, including colleges, high schools and service groups such as the Salvation Army.
Maisha Uzuri, an HIV/AIDS educator, and Carl Strange, a homophobia educator, lead the discussion, which involved the audience in word-association games, hypothetical situations and discussions about behavioral stereotypes.
DaGLO Co-chair Trevor Burgess '94 said the leaders' "hands-on way of dealing" with the issues created an open forum for discussion, which he said was needed on campus.
The talk focused partly on the differences between sexual orientation, which the leaders defined as one's feelings; sexual behavior, one's actions; and sexual identity, one's self-definition.
Burgess said DaGLO asked representatives from Hetric-Martin to speak at the College because of its focus on services for youths, ages 12 to 24.
DaGLO will also sponsor a lecture next month by Kevin Cathcart, the executive director of Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, the leading firm arguing the issue of gays in the military, Burgess said.
Hetric-Martin was founded in 1979 out of the need for a stable foundation to protect gay and lesbian youth. It is a non-profit organization that offers an after school drop in center, individual and group counseling, and an alternative high school for gay and lesbian youth, called the Harvey Milk School.
The institute, located at Astor Place in Manhattan, offered services to more than 2,000 youths between January and March of last year, Uzuri said. About 35 students, who have dropped out of mainstream schools, attend Harvey Milk.
