Ithaca College

Dr. Stephen Tropiano, Program Director of the Ithaca College LA Program and Associate Professor, Department of Television-Radio, will serve as this year's National Coming Out Day speaker. Tropiano’s talk Truth, Lies, and Everything in Between: LGBT Identity in the Digital Age will take place on Thursday, October 7 at 7:00 p.m. in Clark Lounge, Egbert Hall.

Since the 1950’s, traditional media has served as America’s primary source of information about the subject of sexual orientation.  Movies and TV shows in particular have always played a significant role in constructing the public identities of LGBT people.  The tremendous changes in the media landscape over the past two decades have had a significant impact on how others define us as individuals and as a community, and how we define ourselves. 

Do digital media and the Internet in particular give the world a more complete and accurate picture of who we are?  Or do they perpetuate the same lies and myths that have haunted us for decades?

Tropiano's appearance is sponsored by the Center for LGBT Education, Outreach, Services; it is free and open to the public.  Each year our campus hosts a featured speaker -- usually with ties to the campus or local community -- in commemoration of National Coming Out Day. In past years, highlighted speakers have included notable people in the fields of research, writing, the arts, advocacy and activism, and law and public policy.

Individuals with disabilities requiring accommodations should contact Lis Maurer at lmaurer@ithaca.edu or 607-274-7394.  We ask that requests for accommodations be made as soon as possible.