Audience members vote on the sexual orientation of the panel members at the second annual “Guess Who’s Gay” event Thursday night. The event was sponsored by the Residence Halls Association.
Five brave candidates sat as a panel of people with unknown sexualities in front of a room of 50 people Thursday night.
The two-hour event consisted of a question and answer session with the panelists, a guessing session without the contestants, and the final revelation at the end where each of the five men and women exposed their sexualities.
Questions supplied by the audience varied from the innocent “What’s your favorite color?” and “Who’s your favorite band?” to the more serious “What was your first date like?” and “Who had the biggest impact on your life?”
“The purpose of the ‘Guess Who’s Gay’ program is to bring people together to break stereotypes that they may have about the LGBTQ community and giving everyone a chance to become more accepting,” Kaila Mills said. Mills is the executive of marketing for UW’s Residence Hall Association.
The idea of “Guess Who’s Gay” is to prove that stereotypes do not indicate sexuality and one cannot assume someone’s orientation based on their likes or dislikes. Those who are gay, bi-sexual, lesbian, queer, or questioning are not a homogeneous group where everyone is the same.
Audience members first enjoyed the guessing game show, but as one contestant powerfully stated, “A person’s life is not a guessing game.”
As the contestants came back in and saw their orientation guesses made up of vague interests any person might have, an ominous feeling filled the crowd. The guests realized it is not right to make these assumptions. Facts like a love of sweaters or musicals or previous marriages do not make someone gay or straight.
“I hope that the audience really took home that even if you were right in your guess you were still wrong for guessing to begin with,” Mills said.
The panel stated several ways the audience could support the LGBTQ community at UW. One panelist said going to SafeZone Training at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday in the Union is a great way to learn how to be supportive. Others said to just ask if you are not sure, and to be understanding of others.
The ultimate support, however, lies in acceptance and equal treatment.
As part of the 2nd annual “Guess Who’s Gay” event Thursday night in the Rendezvous Room in Washakie, student panel members Bill Hankins, Reggie DePiero, Scott Cheney, Sarah Hanson and Burtt Stretke took questions as audience members tried to figure out the panel member’s sexual orientation.
