On Sept. 10 a crowd over 100 students filled the Student Activities Center Ballroom B to participate in an event titled, ‘Guess The Straight Person.’ The event, put on by the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Alliance has occurred annually for many years on the campus. This year it took place during Campus Lifetime, which is between 12:50 and 2:10 p.m. ‘We do this to fight stereotypes and close-mindedness,’ said Hazel Wodehouse, one of the organization’s presidents and a double major in marine biology and anthropology. ‘You can never lump a group of people into one category because everyone is different.’ In the event, several students sit behind a table covered with a rainbow cloth and answer questions posed by audience members. The audience then attempts to guess which of the panelists are heterosexual and which are not. When the panelists reveal whether the audience guessed correctly, the spectators are then asked to reveal why they believed each panelist was or was not gay. Stony Brook’s LGBTA is the second-oldest club on campus and among the oldest chapters nationwide, according to one member. The organizers hoped to emphasize how everyone is an individual, not a label, and that one aspect of a person does not divulge all that they are. The fifth year expressed hopes that everybody that watched even one round of ‘Guess The Straight Person’ would leave with an open mind and a sense of acceptance for everyone. ‘Stereotypes do come to exist for a reason, but there are always many exceptions,’ said Hillary Weiss, the club’s secretary and a sophomore majoring in philosophy. Wednesday’s questions spanned topics such as movie, television and actor preferences, hobbies, innuendos and fantasies. As for reasons behind guesses of sexual orientation, students judged based on answers and appearance factors such as short hair, whether panelists wore jewelry, I-CON t-shirts, political alignment, and the panelists’ opinion of Texas. A large number of the audience came because they believed the event ‘looked interesting,’ as one male student said, or because they believed in the LGBTA’s crusade to augment awareness, tolerance, and acceptance of alternative lifestyles. Even those students that merely came for the free food ended up lingering to enjoy the insightful and entertaining responses of the panelists. Evelyn McCabe, a senior and English major, lauded the performance. ‘You can never really judge somebody by what they look like. [The panelists] are very brave to put themselves out there because some people can be very judgmental.’ The club members were very pleased with the outcome of the performance. Panelist Kyle Manley, a LGBTA member and second-year computer science student, was attracted to the club a year ago when he attended the event. ‘I had a lot of fun serving as a panelist.’ In response to the audience questions Manley said, ‘I was very relieved there was only one question about a food innuendo. A lot of the questions were very predictable, but there was one that greatly surprised me — the one where one student asked about everybody’s biggest goal for the year.’ The success was mainly attributed to the large amount of advertising that took place this year.’ I think the event went really well, especially because of our amazing promoter Katie Flanagan,’ reflected co-president Nathan St. Louis after the event. Before the performance, Flanagan could be seen with a colorful sign and calling out ‘Who wants to guess the straight person? SAC Ballroom B! You can get free pizza!’ Flanagan’s advertising tactics proved to be highly successful – something reflected in the vast turnout of students.