Running head: EPIC EXPOSURE
EPIC Exposure: Encountering LGBT Communities on Campus
Silvana Alfaro-Bordon
Eastern Michigan University
May 30, 2014
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Abstract
Eastern Pride & Identity Coalition (EPIC) is formed by a group of volunteers who go to classrooms to talk about their coming out stories. The panels provide students with an opportunity to interact with individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and/or transgender
(LGBT). The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of EPIC panels on the attitudes of students toward LGBT individuals. It was expected that after EPIC panel presentations, the attitudes of students toward LGBT individuals would improve. This work should have repercussions for the reduction of stigma and could lead to acceptance of LGBT individuals by members of other communities.

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Author’s Bio
Silvana Alfaro is a Psychology Major and Social Work Minor at Eastern Michigan
University. She expects to graduate with highest honors at the end of the Summer 2014 semester.
Her research interests include LGBT stigma and discrimination, intimate partner violence, parenting, resilience, and more recently, she has become interested in attachment theory. After graduation, Ms. Alfaro plans on taking a month of vacation in Uruguay, her home country. Ms.
Alfaro plans to pursue Graduate studies in Clinical Psychology.

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EPIC Exposure: Encountering LGBT Communities on Campus
Eastern Pride & Identity Coalition (EPIC) is a group of students, faculty, staff, and community members who volunteer to go to classrooms to talk about their coming out stories.
The panels are moderated in a dynamic way so students have the opportunity to interact with the panel by making comments and asking questions. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of EPIC panels on the attitudes of students at EMU toward lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals. It was expected that after the EPIC panel presentation, the attitudes of students toward LGBT individuals would improve. Promoting attitude change by encouraging interaction between LGBT individuals and students would be significant since it could lead to a decrease of stigma and stereotypes toward LGBT individuals. In turn, this change could lead to more allies of the LGBT community thereby contributing to a more equal society.
Social Stigma toward LGBT Individuals
Stigma still surrounds the LGBT community. Even though LGBT people are more widely accepted, we still observe social institutions (e.g., religious and governmental institutions) that promote and support unequal opportunities in our society. The LGBT community falls into the category of people who have fewer opportunities (i.e., no right to marry in most states in the US, difficulty adopting children, lack of health care benefits for partners, etc.). I believe that the people who will influence society in the near future are the students who attend universities today. If these students interact and empathize with members of the LGBT community, they will be able to better understand issues the LGBT community faces and they might become allies of the LGBT community in its struggle for equality.
One way to counteract the effects of stigma is to expose students to people who identify as LGB or T. This interaction could lead to psychological changes pertaining to attitudes. In

EPIC EXPOSURE 5 general, attitudes are psychological tendencies that determine the degree of favor or disfavor with which we perceive an object, a situation, or a person. The components of attitudes involve emotions that can be positive or negative, are based on the person’s thoughts, and lead a person to elicit specific behaviors. For the purpose of this study, when I mention attitudes toward LGBT individuals, I am referring to behaviors expressed toward LGBT individuals, coupled with thoughts and feelings that can be expressed in a positive or negative fashion. Individuals construct their attitudes based on their thoughts, and so persuading someone to change an attitude can be accomplished.
Attitude Malleability
Attitudes, as a psychological tendency, are not fixed. On the contrary, they can change from a negative evaluation to a positive evaluation and vice-versa. In this sense, a negative attitude toward LGBT individuals could be improved or changed through intergroup contact, which is the goal of EPIC panel presentations. Contact between two groups helps adjust or even change preconceived ideas or thoughts about the group, which leads to changes in behavior and offers an opportunity to generate favorable relationships. For instance, if someone does not know anyone who identifies as a lesbian, he could have a negative preconceived idea (i.e., stereotype) about lesbians being man haters. If that person is exposed to listening to and interacting with a person who identifies as a lesbian, he could find other characteristics of that woman that might be more salient than that old stereotype. This could lead to attitude change in a positive direction.
EPIC Goals
The community plays an important role in how people develop positive or negative attitudes. When the community is supportive of contact amongst members of diverse groups, the attitudes could improve. The goal of EPIC panels is to promote attitude change by encouraging

EPIC EXPOSURE 6 interactions between LGBT individuals and students in a classroom environment. To do so, a coordinator who moderates the panel, and four volunteers who might identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and/or transgender go to a classroom that requested the panel to talk about LGBT issues. Most volunteers are students, however, faculty and staff occasionally serve as panelists, too. The panel presentations consist of three activities: the first activity is an exercise where students in the class are asked to write down what stereotypes are associated with the words lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and heterosexual, followed by a brief conversation about what these stereotypes mean; the second activity consists of personal coming out stories shared by each panelist; and the third activity consists of a question and answer section where students ask panelists questions regarding their personal story, their gender identity, and their sexual orientation.
Attitude Assessment
Classroom interactions were evaluated to determine if EPIC panels influenced attitude change in a positive direction at a level that was statistically significant. I hypothesized that EPIC panels would have a positive impact on students’ attitudes toward LGBT individuals.
To evaluate attitude change, I developed two online surveys to measure the impact of the EPIC panel. One survey was administered before EPIC panel presentation and another one following the presentation. The surveys consisted of 37 questions specifically designed to determine students’ attitudes toward LGBT individuals as a group and attitudes toward specific subgroups within the LGBT population. For example, items to determine attitudes toward LGBT individuals included “Being LGBT is a choice; Sexuality is determined, in part, by our biology and genes.” Examples of items that reflected attitudes toward a subgroup in the LGBT community included “Bisexuality is a phase; Adult females should identify themselves as

EPIC EXPOSURE 7 women and adult males should identify as men.” A set of demographic questions such as age, sex, gender, religious and political orientation followed. The second survey included an additional section on personal perceptions of the panel presentation. More specifically, students were asked to give their personal opinion regarding the panel.
For this research, 146 participants were recruited in classrooms that requested EPIC panel presentations. Out of all participants, 86 completed both surveys, which were used to conduct data analysis. The results of the analysis indicated a statistically significant attitude change over time. The change indicated that attitudes toward LGBT individuals were more favorable after
EPIC panel presentations.
Participants’ Reflections on EPIC
These statistics were in consonance with the comments participants made regarding their personal appreciation of the panel. However, there was a particularly negative comment about the panel. The participant said, “Felt it was wrong to have that [panel] in classes. Upset that the college allow the EPIC panel to go around to classes like that. If I would have known what the
EPIC panel was I would not have attended class that day.” This comment shows that the change in attitude might not be positive for all the participants. Nevertheless, this was the only comment of panel disapproval in the entire survey.
Other comments included appreciation of the work panelists did, such as, “I really respect all those members for being so brave and proudly telling everyone their true identity.” Some participants appreciated the value of the information they learned, like the following comment reflects: “I found it very interesting to listen to them tell their stories because I felt like the students could understand and grasp their life story since we were hearing it from them and not just reading an article about someone.” Another participant pointed out, “I really enjoyed the

EPIC EXPOSURE 8 panel and would highly recommend it, even for classes that aren't quite so focused on these issues already.” These comments clearly demonstrate the significance of having real people interact with students in the classroom.
Participants were also asked about what they perceived they learned during the panel presentation. A large array of answers included acknowledging feelings, understanding stereotypes, and understanding the emotional damage that judgment inflicts on LGBT individuals. For instance, a participant showed empathy by explaining, “The most important thing to me was getting a glimpse into what a day in their shoes might be like.” Another participant articulated, “It was very heartbreaking to listen to the struggles the panelists went through.” The importance of understanding how stereotypes affect LGBT individuals was clearly stated by a participant who expressed learning “how much the stereotypes that are put on our society hurt everyone, especially the LGBT community.” A different student pointed out, “I learned more about bisexuality and how none of the bisexual EPIC members I have met are overly sexual like many stereotypes I hear say.” In regard to judgment, one participant stated,
“People should not be judged based on what they look like or how they dress.” Another student learned that “people do have a hard time dealing with others who are quick to judge them for who they are. And they shouldn't do that to them.” These comments indicate awareness of the struggles panelists have endured in their lives and an intrinsic desire to avoid being judgmental.
The statistical results of the present study, as well as the comments presented by the participants, suggest that EPIC panel presentations may have a positive impact on students’ attitude change toward LGBT individuals. However, replication of this study is highly recommended, especially because the sample was students from Social Work and Women and
Gender Studies classes and these students are particularly aware and sympathetic to

EPIC EXPOSURE discrimination and inequality issues in the community. In further studies, the same techniques used for EPIC panel presentations could be implemented in other educational settings such as high schools, community colleges, and other universities. The success of panel presentations provides a rationale for equality-based activities that could be implemented beyond educational settings. Such activities promote interaction and dialogue that might lead to acceptance and tolerance amongst different groups. Encouraging intergroup contact among different communities could potentially lead to more positive attitudes and more equal social rules and norms that will improve the lives of LGBT individuals.
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