Seven students will share their experiences of being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender during EIU Pride’s “The Big Gay Panel” on Thursday.

The panel will be at 7 p.m. in the Phipps Auditorium of the Physical Sciences Building.

Nico Canaday, a senior English major and the president of EIU Pride, said Pride will share information about being lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender in society today.

“They also explain a little bit about themselves, like coming out stories,” Canaday said. “But mostly they answer questions for the audience, just so the community is educated.”

Canaday said students can ask questions they have about being part of the LGBT community.

“It’s a free exchange of ideas and gives the opportunity to ask any outstanding questions they have about the LGBT community,” Canaday said.

Canaday said he hopes people learn from the students on the panel.

“A lot of the discrimination and oppression toward gay people is from people who don’t know much about the community,” Canaday said. “This is a really good way to get informed about current issues, about the LGBT experience, and to make better decisions.”

Canaday said people need to learn how to work with LGBT people and he hopes the panel will accomplish it.

“It’s important for people to realize that there are LGBT people in the community,” Canaday said. “I hope they take away more knowledge about the LGBT experience and are confident in their knowledge and want to be allies of the community.”

Canaday said this is a good way to show people different ways of life.

“Any chance to promote diversity, education and awareness is a really good one,” Canaday said. “It brings people together and shows the solidarity of the community and I think it will help clarify people’s ideas about the LGBT community.”

A video will also be shown at the beginning of the panel.

Angie Bradley, the lecture coordinator of the University Board, said throughout the week the UB has asked people to record themselves saying “It gets better.”

“Some people will make it more personal and share a story,” Bradley said. “The more personal a story is, the more inspiring it is.”

Canaday said he thinks hearing experiences will help to change peoples’ opinions.

“To get to know them is such a powerful experience for a lot of people,” Canaday said. “People really change their perspective and what they think about gay people once they have a chance to hear them speak about their experience.”

Samantha McDaniel can be reached at 581-2812 or slmcdaniel@eiu.edu.