The Gay/Lesbian Union held an open house celebrating their 20th anniversary at NIU in Swen Parson Hall Wednesday.

“The main purpose of the annual open house is to try and help those faculty and students who are curious as to what the GLU is all about,” said GLU President Theresa Brown.

When the GLU first began in 1970, its office was located in downtown DeKalb, not yet on the NIU campus. It was not until 1980 that the organization finally got an office in the Holmes Student Center, Brown said.

The GLU was created to help educate and create a more comfortable atmosphere for all students. College is hard enough without being discriminated against, Brown said.

“We help inform people by communicating with faculty and giving lectures to classes. Some students have said they feel threatened by us, and we’re trying to help them overcome this fear,” she said.

Also present at the open house was ACT-UP Chicago, a coalition of AIDS activists. “ACT-UP has begun a fight against the criminally inadequate system of public health care and the insurance industry’s denial of coverage to people with AIDS,” said Dwight Glass, ACT-UP member.

“The governments lack of response is out of control. It wasn’t until women and children began dying from AIDS that they even began to take notice,” Glass said.

ACT-UP and ACT-NOW, another AIDS-fighting coalition, from every major city in America will meet in Chicago to demand full funding for AIDS services in U.S. public hospitals.

ACT-UP also fights for a national health care insurance plan, regardless of employment or income.