Members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Ally Alliance are hoping to heighten awareness of the LGBT community with activities to celebrate Awareness Days 2000 this week.

“A lot of the events are just focused on making people more aware of what LGBT issues are. What we would really like to happen is a bunch of people show up to the rally, listen to the speakers and find out what kind of things are going on campus,” said Jeremy Hayes, information coordinator of the Alliance.

Hayes, sophomore in management information systems, said the Alliance wants to promote general awareness.

“We want to let them know there are LGBT people on campus. You probably know some of them, even if you don’t know they are,” Hayes said. “We want to do away with the stereotypes, and we’re just as normal as anyone else on campus.”

Members of the Alliance said they want to get as many people involved as possible in the week.

“We’re trying to make it inclusive [of all people] with all the films and to make activities that include everybody in the whole awareness process,” said Levi Richardson, president and special events coordinator of the Alliance.

Richardson, sophomore in computer engineering, said the Alliance hasn’t set specific goals for the week.

“I just hope people have fun, and I hope the week does what it’s supposed to do, which is raise awareness,” he said.

Richardson expects to have the same attendance as last year.

“The last two events of the week will be a much bigger turnout since we’ve done more coordinating to make sure there aren’t other [conflicting] events,” he said.

The week was less strictly scheduled compared to last year, Richardson said. “We’re being more flexible,” he said. “This time we sort of did whatever fits so people aren’t overwhelmed.”

Richardson expects keynote speaker Judy Shepard to be a highlight of the week. Shepard was the mother of Matthew Shepard, a gay student at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, Wyo., who was a victim of a hate crime.

“We should have high attendance for her because people want to hear her speak,” Richardson said.

The week will kick off at noon today with a rally south of the Campanile. Hayes encourages everyone to come to the rally, as well as the other activities.

“The three big events we want people to come to are the rally, the keynote speaker and the dance. People should come to at least one, if not all, of those,” he said.