When minorities like feminists and homosexuals combine, they become a majority.

That was the theme Thursday, when members of the NIU Women’s Alliance and PRISM, the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender organization, met in an open dialogue panel discussion.

The dialogue raised questions about the experiences people have had as part of either the Women’s Alliance or the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender

community.

Members of the Women’s Alliance Mellisa Prentice, a senior English major; and Kim Conrad, a sophomore history major, said their reasons for fighting against sexism started during their adolescence when they were picked on.

One question posed by Diane Swanson, faculty adviser for the Women’s Alliance, was: Sexism and homophobia — do you think they are related?

Prentice agreed that society has given people the idea that women and men are supposed to act a certain way, and when they are vocal in groups like the Women’s Alliance and PRISM, they are acting like deviants.

“These two communities are a threat to the status quo,” Prentice said.

Panel members said there are similarities between the two groups.

Will Boelcke, a sophomore mathematics major, said these groups were formed because people believe there is safety in numbers.

“The power in those numbers lets it be known that there are people that have a general goal:to have the right to feel comfortable with themselves in society,” Boelcke said.

Boelcke also detailed his coming-out experience to the assembled group.

“I’ve been out the past four-and-a-half years and it’s been a positive experience, ” he said. “It was those years in high school before I came out that were most difficult.”

Boelcke said he was scared and ashamed of who he was in the past.

“I seldomly face discrimination now,” said Boelcke. “People find that besides my same-sex relationship, I live the same life as anyone else.”

Cassandra Liddel, a freshman pre-clinical laboratory sciences major, said there is a time to express your sexuality and a time to keep it private.

“I haven’t had many bad experiences because I know when to be out and not to be out,” Liddel said.

Prentice argues that while the goals are common, not everyone supports the two groups because they are focusing on the differences between them.

Ignoring those similarities hurts the individual groups, Swanson said.

“Lesbians are in between both the women’s and the gay movement,” Swanson said. “Issues like equal pay in the workplace are concerns of both organizations, why not make them allies?”

Some audience members said the purpose of the discussion was to bring about awareness that their issues affect one another.

“People that seem like they have nothing in common still face an issue of the quality of life,” said Mary Sheldon, a non-student. “Because of alliance between communities just like this one a change can be made.”