The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Student Services Speakers Bureau is the oldest LGBTSS program at Iowa State.

The Speaker’s Bureau is a program within the LGBTSS that has members of the ISU Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community speak to classes about stories they have and answer questions about other LGBT issues people may have.

The panel speakers take five minutes each to tell personal stories that they have, and then the floor is open to questions that the participants may have.

Brad Freihoefer, coordinator of the LGBTSS, usually tries to attend as many presentations as possible and is also one of the speakers.

“The program gives a great way to dialogue, peers to peers, to talk about real, lived experiences, to dive a little more in-depth, and to ask the questions that students have never been able to ask before,” Freihoefer said. “I think it is really one of the most effective programs we have on campus.”

The program is designed to increase the visibility of LGBT people and to decrease heterosexism and homophobia on the ISU campus, according to the LGBTSS website.

“The first time that I spoke on the panel, I was pretty nervous,” said Kelly Moeller, senior in child, adult and family services.

Moeller has been a speaker for the program for more than two semesters.

“Overall, it has been a pretty positive experience,” Moeller said. “We want to provide that perspective that once you leave that class, you will know someone who is LGBT and really putting a face to that abstract thought that, ‘Well that doesn’t affect me.'”

Since some of the courses that request the Speaker’s Bureau to speak are up to three hours long, a lot of time for questions is allowed in some of the panels.

“One of the ground rules we put out is to give respect to get respect,” Moeller said about answering questions. “We respect that people have different opinions. Our mission is not to change people’s minds, but to give them a different perspective.”

Freihoefer said there are a lot of different questions and a lot of similar questions from one class to the next that students will ask.

“We’ve heard a lot of different questions and a lot of repeats, which is good and bad,” Freihoefer said. “We’re still dealing with some myths about LGBT issues coming in, but we’re addressing those myths each time, and we try to break down the heterosexism, transphobia and homophobia each panel discussion.”

Freihoefer said that ideally people should send in requests to have a panel come speak to a class two weeks in advance so the group has enough time to prepare discussions relating to each individual class.

A variety of issues and topics are available to select for discussions. One can also simply choose general LGBT issues as the topic of choice.

“I really encourage people to request a panel, or to get involved with it too,” Freihoefer said. “Have pride, take part and make a difference, that’s really what our panels are about.”