The purpose of the involvement is to get the participants to examine their comfort level and gut reactions to gay situations and the gay community. The program is directed at both gays and straights. Everyone must understand that the goal is best accomplished by honest reactions and responses and also that no one will be judged on their response.

The process is that the questions are distributed by drawing them from a hat. There should be one question for each slip of paper. Once everyone has received their question, people will begin reading their question either on a volunteer basis or by a system, or both. The person will read his or her question and then give a candid response and elaborate as much as possible. Then, other people will continue the discussion by asking questions or by sharing their response. Sponsors of the program should act to facilitate discussion.

A list of suggested questions follow.

• What would you do if your daughter told you she were a lesbian?
• Would you feel comfortable holding a book with the word “Gay” printed largely on the cover while on a plane flight?
• If you were bisexual and your roommate was assumed to be straight, would you come out to her/him? Why? When? How?
• If you were in the military and you realized that you were homosexual, how would you handle the conflict?
• If you were heterosexual and your best friend of the same sex came out as gay and revealed that he/she was attracted to you all at the same time, how would you handle it?
• If you were heterosexual and you were rooming with a homosexual would you want to know? Why or why not?
• If you were a homosexual or heterosexual, would you become involved in a intimate relationship with a bisexual?
• How does one know their sexuality?
• If you were a homosexual and a member of a church that condemned homosexuality, how would you resolve the conflict?
• Regardless of your sexuality how would you feel if a homoerotic images were posted in your public living areas. i.e. suite lounges, bathrooms, etc.?
• How would you feel if your partner of two years were to self-identify as a bisexual, with no intent to end the relationship, having not cheated, and having no interest in anyone else?
• If you were heterosexual and were to discover that you hade HIV and you had had several partners in the past, mostly heterosexual, but one bisexual, would you tend to think that the bisexual partner had passed the virus onto you?
• If you were heterosexual, would you have an intimate relationship with a transvestite of the opposite sex?
• If you were present at an informal gathering of friends and someone began making
• anti-gay slurs and comments, what would you do? Would you react differently if they were strangers? If so how?
• If it were to be determined that homosexuality were caused by a single gene, do you think the results would be positive or negative? Elaborate.
• If you were a bisexual having had both heterosexual and homosexual partners, but currently in a heterosexual relationship, and you were convinced that your parents would love you despite their belief that you were heterosexual, would you reveal your sexuality to them?
• Do you think that the confrontationalist (that is the group that follows the philosophy that in order to gain equal rights the gay community should make themselves visible and prevalent as opposed to the confrontationalist who wish to accomplish the same goal by seeming like everyone else) method is a result or a cause to homophobia and anti-gay feelings?
• If you were going out to a gay club and your parents asked you where were you going, what would you tell them?
• If you were a heterosexual and after a third date discover that your date is someone of the same sex, what would you do?
• If you thought a younger sibling was gay, how would you handle it?
• If you found out that your favorite famous person were gay, how would that affect your perception of that person?
• If you were heterosexual and wanted to go to a club, and the only accessible club was a gay club, would you feel comfortable going there?
• Would you feel comfortable playing a gay role in a play or film?
• If you were gay, how would you come out to your parents if you felt the need to?

After a while, we asked everyone to sit down and passed out the questions on little slips of paper. We asked someone to read the question on their peice of paper, and then everyone discussed it.

The program got started with “If you were present at an informal gathering of friends and someone began making anti-gay slurs and comments, what would you do? Would you react differently if they were strangers? If so how?” Since this was a situation that nearly everyone has faced at some time or another, it was a good ice breaker and got everyone talking. Almost everyone said that they would confront the person although some people were more worried about confronting strangers.

Of the questions asked, the one that got the most debate was “If you were heterosexual and your roomate was heterosexual, would you want to know?” This brought on arguement as the group was divided as to whether one’s sexuality was only a small part of who one was, or whether knowing one’s sexuality is an important part of being involved in one’s life.

Thirty-nine people showed up, including three professors, and almost everyone talked at some point or another, so we only got through eight questions. That seemed like enough as we didn’t want to program to run too much over an hour. The briefness of the program was another good aspect. Since we ended it before it had started to drag, everyone was still having a good time. One of the professors said that it was one of the best programs he’d attended on campus ever and the students seemed to enjoy it, too.