LGBTQA Digital Discussions are anonymous, safe ways for you to interact with trained and supervised peer support staff and talk about different issues.

There are two different chat forums, General LGBTQA Discussion, and Greek Alliance Discussions, specifically for members of fraternity and sorority chapters at Penn State. 

Scroll through this page to locate specific information for each chat session.

The discussion groups are held on a few different chat clients so you can chat with us which ever way you prefer. Below are some instructions, suggestions and rules for the LGBTQA Digital Discussions.

Rules:

1. Please be respectful of others, the online groups are a place for support.
2. Participants should refrain from obscenity during the chat.
3. The online discussion groups are not a pickup location so please be respectful.
4. Follow the instructions of the moderators.
5. The moderators encourage all participants to ask any questions they want, however they do reserve the right to not answer any that they are uncomfortable with.
6. The moderators reserve the right to block or ignore any participant that is insulting, demeaning, or in other ways disruptive to the functioning of the chat.

Suggestions:

1. If you wish to remain anonymous, pick a username that does not give away your identity (i.e. do not use your fraternity/sorority letters, your Penn State Access Accont ID, your initials, or an e-mail address).
2. Be prepared to share something about yourself, this is the best way to get a lot out of the conversation.
3. Feel free to ask the moderators any question you want, you might be surprised by the answer and who else might want to know the same thing.
4. Don't just chat with the moderators, you should feel free to chat with the other participants, often their experiences will be just as helpful if not more.

GENERAL LGBTQA DISCUSSION
(Scroll down for Greek Alliance Chat)

Instructions:

To participate in an LGBTQA Digital Discussion you must first go to one of the following websites and obtain an account and possibly download the necessary software, if you have not already:

***WARNING: The screennames listed below are the ONLY ones used by our representatives.  For safety reasons, use caution when chatting with users who use similar screennames.***

AOL Instant Messenger: www.aim.com
Screen names:
PennStateLGBTQA
PennStateLGBTQA1

Gay.com: www.gay.com or PlanetOut.com: www.planetout.com
PSU_LGBTQA
PSU_LGBTQA1
PSU_LGBTQA2

If you chose to log onto Gay.com, from the chat room list chose “Men: U.S. – Northeastern” then select “Pennsylvania,” and finally double click on “PA College” to enter the chat room. 

The accounts are easy to set-up and free so log on today!

Although most of the LGBTQA chats are not moderated, a moderator is present in case any difficulties arise or if any of the participants have questions. To see a schedule of all of the upcoming moderated chat events offered by the LGBTA Student Resource Center, go to the chat calendar.

• Are you Greek and have questions about your sexuality?
• Are you Greek and want to "come out" to your chapter and unsure how?
• Are you Greek and have questions for openly gay Greek members?
• Are you Greek and identify yourself as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or questioning and want to talk to other Greeks who identify the same way?

If you answered yes to any of the above questions, you are invited to attend an Online Discussion for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning Greeks bi-weekly on the following dates:

Spring Semester 2007 Dates:
Wednesday, February 28th,    5:00pm-6:30pm
Wednesday, March 21st,        5:00pm-6:30pm
Wednesday, April 4th,            5:00pm-6:30pm
Wednesday, April 18th,          5:00pm-6:30pm
Wednesday, May 2nd,           5:00pm-6:30pm

Screenames/ID's:

***WARNING: The screennames listed below are the ONLY ones used by our representatives.  For safety reasons, use caution when chatting with users who use similar screennames.***

To chat with Greek Alliance representatives during the designated chat time on Gay.com or PlanetOut.com, message:

GreekAlliance
or
GreekAlliance1

To chat with Greek Alliance representatives during the designated chat times on AIM, message:

PSUGreekAlliance
or
PSUGreekAlly1