This letter is written in defense of National Coming Out Days and in response to the letter written in the Friday, Nov. 5 Daily.

I think it my personal duty to write in and discuss this because I am Special Projects Coordinator for the LGBTAA, and I, along with several others, were in charge of putting together “Fag Week,” as it was called in the Ag Week letter.

First of all, I’d like to extend an apology to the Ag Week coordinators for the lack of attention they received. I believe that all groups on campus deserve the same amount of attention and are equally important.

However, the letter written clearly insinuated that ag issues are way more important than gay issues. It is this attitude that makes National Coming Out Days so important. It’s because so many poor gays and lesbians face so much social bias in today’s society, and because, yes, those who chose to come out are brave souls.

It’s sad that people often discredit that. People often just don’t know what it’s like for LGBT people, and sadly, people often don’t care.

Also, what might not be known is the amount of work that went into NCODs and the amount of work that goes into anything the LGBT community at ISU tries to do. Quite possibly the reason the Daily gave us so much coverage that week is because whenever a flier goes up with the words “gay” or “lesbian” on it, it gets torn down instantly.

I, and other members on the executive committee, spent months organizing the events and publicity for that week. If it weren’t for the Daily, nobody would have known about the events that occurred. Now, that is what I call frustration.

Let’s not be so quick to get mad at the Daily. I agree there should have been an ag article this week on the front page. The letter written didn’t do much to discuss this issue, but rather said something to the affect of “Ewww, those friggin’ queers got more attention than we did.” Now really, was that what you wanted to say?

Levi Abraham Richardson Jr.

Sophomore

Computer engineering

Special Projects, LGBTAA