Pride Week, a celebration of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender [GLBT] community at Elon, closes today with a social film screening and a T-shirt demonstration.

The film,“Coming Out, Coming In” will be shown today from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. in McKinnon Hall. It documents the struggles of gay and lesbian Christians trying to balance their faith with their sexual orientation. Gergann Eubanks, producer of the film, will be present at the screening and discussion.

Students who RSVP’d will receive a free lunch. The date to RSVP has passed.

Pride Week began as a final project for the Isabella Leadership program, planned and initiated by Jon Chapman, a class of 2007 Leadership Fellow. The week’s events have included lunches, speakers and a peaceful sit out.

Mike Wilke, the founder of the Commercial Closet Organization, visited Elon and spoke to about 40 students Monday night about advertising to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community.

Wilke showed what he referred to as a string of about 40 “commercials.” This collection of video clips, selling everything “from jeans to juice” explored different representations of GLBT in the community.

The clips ranged from good examples of advertising, such as Ikea’s “redecorate your life” commercial, to examples of commercials that were detrimental, such as the Calvin Klein Jeans ad made to look like the start of a gay child porn video.

Students signed their names on large, white sheets with “Gay? Fine by Elon,” written on them at College Coffee on Tuesday. The sheets were later hung up in Moseley Center.

The Moseley Commuter Lounge housed a lunch discussion about lesbian issues called, “Lesbians and Lunch” from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Leigh-Anne Royster, coordinator for personal health programs and community well-being, moderated a panel discussion about gay men who spent their college years at Elon. The panel, called, “Growing Up Gay at Elon,” was held at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in McKinnon.

Wednesday marked a peaceful protest against the Love School of Business’s welcome of Tom Monaghan as an ethical business model.

Monaghan is noted for his donations to many anti-gay organizations and speaking out against the gay community.

Chapman says that the “faculty and staff are showing a lot of support” for this protest.

“We know we’re not going to change him,” Chapman said. “Our goal is to start a discussion on what is ethical. ‘Ethical’ needs to be defined by the community of Elon, not just the business school.”

Protest members planned to wear their “Gay? Fine by me” shirts and sit in the middle of the LaRose Digital Theater during Monaghan’s presentation.

The next GLBT event is the national “Day of Silence” on April 18. Elon students will take vows of silence to represent members of the GLBT community who feel like they have no voice.

Reporter: Caroline Fox - Photos: Alyse Knorr 04/05/07