The first television character to announce she is “coming out of the closet” has received much nation-wide publicity, and even Iowa State students are getting involved.

Tonight at 7:30 in the Westgate Hall lounge, there will be an “Ellen Coming Out Party” to celebrate the ground-breaking “Ellen” episode in which the sitcom’s lead character will announce that she is a lesbian.

The episode centers on actress Ellen DeGeneres’ character, Ellen Morgan, discovering she is attracted to a woman, played by Laura Dern.

The ISU coming out party originated from an Internet site.

Bev Uhlenhake, upper Friley Hall director, said the idea for an Ellen Coming Out Party started with a site created by the Human Rights Campaign, an organization that supports gay, lesbian and bisexual issues.

“They have a big Web page. They’ve put together an Ellen Coming Out Day packet that includes information about hosting a [party],” Uhlenhake said.

Several resident assistants at ISU volunteered to coordinate the party.

Pam Tank, Lorch-Russel resident hall assistant, said students should attend tonight’s party to further educate themselves on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues.

“I think students should go to it because I don’t think people are as educated about it as they should be. People are quick to criticize lesbian, gay and bisexual people …,” Tank said.

She said students who attend will have the opportunity to listen and ask questions of members of ISU’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Ally Alliance.

Tank said she expects a large turnout at tonight’s party.

Though many students are supporting the episode, there has been much nationwide opposition to tonight’s show.

There is a public-pressure camping initiated by The Rev. Jerry Falwell and the conservative American Family Association.

Falwell and the association have been critical of “Ellen”‘s three major corporate sponsors: Chrysler Corporation, General Motors and Johnson & Johnson. The three companies have now threatened to pull their advertisements from tonight show. Conservative critics are also putting pressure on Disney.

Disney owns ABC.

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— Some Information in this article was provided by the Human Rights Campaign Website. The address of the site is: http://www.hrc.org.