Members of Spectrum have proudly chosen the theme "We Are Family" for their annual spring week, which begins today.
They don't mind if people cue the well-known song, saying they want to focus on the gay-marriage debate and an evolving definition of family in society.
Spectrum, Ball State's gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and allied student organization, will try to pinpoint key areas in which homosexuals are similar to heterosexuals to make their causes relevant to the majority heterosexual population, Steven Knipp, Spectrum spring week committee chair, said.
"A loving couple, children, relatives, friends, all these aspects do exist in the gay and lesbian community," he said.
Spectrum's efforts to establish itself and the larger gay community as a family and highlight that similarity with heterosexual peers are reflective of issues swirling at the national level. President Bush has pledged support for a constitutional amendment defining marriage as being between one man and one woman, while numerous cities have offered marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
Believing they have already largely attained social acceptance, Spectrum now seeks to plant more of its ideas into the social conscience and relate the struggle for gay rights to other people groups, notably blacks. Drawing parallels to others is a strategy for gays both locally and nationally to foster continued acceptance.
Gay marriage and the definition of family are interwoven issues, said Ball State sociology professor Mellisa Holtzman, who specializes in family definitions.
"To establish the right to marry establishes the right to be deemed a family by the state," she said. "We happen to be in a hotbed of looking at what family means and what it doesn't mean."
Spectrum officers said that while inroads can still be made, acceptance is largely established for the local gay community.
"It feels very positive right now," Anita Brown, Spectrum president, said. "We're taking it as free reign to say what we want, do what we want. We've already done the exposure thing. That was the last two years."
The perceived social acceptance of homosexuality itself emboldens the group's efforts to put out additional ideas such as how the definition of family includes gays, lesbians and their relatives and partners.
"The gay marriage debate is right on top of the issue of family definitions," Holtzman said. "Spectrum's efforts in April mesh entirely with what's going on right now."
Holtzman said that spring week organizers would do well to "play up" the similarities between how gays experience life, family and relationships as heterosexuals do.
"This gives them a similarity that the heterosexual population could potentially empathize with," Holtzman said. "If you make your audience appreciate the similarity, then you can say, 'And look at what we don't get,' and make them empathize with that too."
A strategy Spectrum might use is accentuating similarities to expose the differences in rights granted to heterosexual and homosexual couples, Holtzman said. The week of events under the banner of "We Are Family" is centered on a speaker panel of family members -- parents, siblings and children -- of homosexuals.
"We want to reinforce that just because our family structure may not look exactly like the norm, we are what a family should be," Knipp said.
The experience within a family is not defined by marriage or blood relation but by the emotional experience that goes on within that relationship, Holtzman said.
"To focus their week of celebration on family is in many ways natural for them because they do experience it as family," she said. "It also draws attention, even if only in a subtle way, to the fact that they're not given that status in society."
Holtzman said that heterosexual marriage involves benefits to be gained such as long life, better physical and sexual health and mental stability. Part of the benefit to the heterosexual man is that the woman takes on the more "emotional" role and its duties. Research showed committed homosexual men often divide duties along the same lines, Holtzman said.
Relating the campaign for gay rights to that of the civil rights movement in the 1960s is important for Spectrum to consider, Holtzman said. Just 40 years ago, interracial marriage was socially, if not legally, forbidden.
"In general, their situation is parallel," she said. "It's distinct in some ways, but you can see that they are similar and can anticipate that they will have similar outcomes. So this nation may get legal acceptance of gays and gay marriage, it may not get social acceptance, like blacks and with interracial marriages."
Spectrum leaders were adamant that spring week activities and events are catalyzed by the current political and social climates as interest in and support for gay issues has piqued.
"It has everything to do with the election," Knipp said. "A definition of marriage that excludes gays is a major issue that Bush is pushing, and we're responding."
Spectrum hopes to initiate discussion in the campus community on the subjects of homosexual rights and marriage, Brown said.
"We're trying to rally, not necessarily change people's minds," she said. "If we change people's minds, fabulous. If not, we've said our piece."
Spectrum's Spring Week 2004 schedule of events [runs April 19-24]:
Monday: Guest Speakers
Tuesday: Silent, a dramatic production
Wednesday: Day of Silence
Thursday Speaker Panel -- family members of gays
Friday: Prom 2004 -- Gay Paris ["prom"-like dance]
Saturday: Drag Show -- Full House: Queens over Kings theme
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