After carefully spraying colorful icing to form a dress and heels on his gingerbread cookie, Jason Maldonado decided to name the creation Roxy.

A fitting name for a gingerbread drag queen.

Maldonado and others decorated cookies in Allen Hall at the second annual “Coming Out Proud” celebration in honor of National Coming Out Day – Oct. 11 – and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered History Month. The event was sponsored by University multicultural advocates.

“I’m a big fan of diversity on campus and I think people should have programs available to them to express themselves in the ways that they want to,” said Maldonado, junior in LAS. “I think one of the advantages to coming to a school that’s this big is that the LGBT community is really enthusiastic and proactive about changing stereotypes people may have.”

Students played “pin the queer eye on the straight guy,” and watched a drag queen performance by Theo Lamonst.

Lamonst, a junior at Parkland Community College, said people have been surprisingly accepting of his dressing in drag.

“The idea is to provide a safe place for members of the LGBT community, as well as allies to come and celebrate National Coming Out Day,” said Vanessa Nicosia, head coordinator of the event and senior in applied life studies. “In my four years here, I have noticed that ignorance has decreased little by little. The dynamics of the University could be more accepting.”

Multicultural advocate Nashira Sey described the event as a “safe, celebrative zone.” She said Allen Hall was the perfect place to hold the celebration.

“It’s open to anybody and everybody – all you have to be is human,” said Sey, senior in applied life studies. “We want allies, friends and all the LGBT family to come out.”

Chrissy Szajna and Kathy Lee, both seniors in education, attended the event as part of their Curriculum and Instruction 448 class.

Szajna said she was nervous at first, but she felt more comfortable by the end of the night.

“For us being teachers, I’m sure we’re going to run into this,” she said. “It’s important for us to know how to make (students) feel comfortable in the classroom to be themselves, and help other students to accept them.”

“It’s really hard for us to incorporate this type of lifestyle into our classroom without parents coming and saying, ‘Why are you teaching my kid about gays and lesbians?'” Szajna said. “If you have a kid that has two mommies, you can’t just ignore that if you’re doing a family project. You can’t exclude that child because that’s going back to discrimination.”

Lee said the night was the first time she’d been so exposed to LGBT culture.

“Because of my beliefs, I don’t agree with the lifestyle, but for me, I’m learning to see that they deserve respect and acceptance,” she said.

And that’s what Nicosia said the night was all about.

“We want to help expose acceptance,” Nicosia said. “We’re trying to promote diversity. The more people start to accept and respect people for their differences, the better our community as a whole will be.”