Since they want to play the annoying website registration game, here’s the Mr. Rogers article (from What else?) in full:

When the Gays Move into Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, a presentation about living as a homosexual in a primarily straight world, gave students insight into not only what life is like as a gay, lesbian or bisexual individual, but also insight into how to address stereotypes placed upon such persons.

The event was led by speakers Joe Bertolino, vice president for student affairs at Queens College and Bil Leipold, assistant dean of the School of Criminal Justice at Rutgers – Newark campus.

“We’re both in student affairs, we’re both fraternity men,” Bertolino said. “Most importantly, you should know Bil and I, we’re…boyfriends.”

The two speakers told the audience they were there to let people know what issues might face students of a different sexual orientation on campus in a funny, lighthearted manner.

“We’re not here to recruit tonight,” Leipold said. “However, now that you’re signed in at the table over there, we’ll send you your free toaster oven when you fully commit.”

Bertolino and Leipold asked the audience to come up with a list of terms that might be heard on a college campus to describe people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender.

“If you give us a word we’ve never heard before, we promise to use it in our presentations for the rest of the year and give Slippery Rock University credit for it,” Bertolino said.

Of the more than 20 words on the list, at least three were new to the pair, Bertolino said.

The audience then came up with a list of words they would use to describe people they knew who were gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender.

That list included words such as fabulous, friend, admirable and Ph.D.

Leipold said the first list of words reduces the entire human experience to sexual activity, while the second list is more human and nicer.

“(The lecture) is about looking at the humanness of being gay,” he said.

Leipold said he came out of the closet when he was a freshman in college, receiving harassment from other students, including a fire set outside of his dorm room door and denial from his parents.

Leipold said that although his teenage sister was thrilled that they now had boys in common, his parents wouldn’t talk about him being gay for two and a half years.

Bertolino said his sister had a similar reaction to his coming out as Leipold’s did, and his parents also refused to acknowledge his sexuality until several months later.

The two said that sexuality is not something you get to choose.

“It’s not like you decided to be straight,” Bertolino said to the audience. “And Bil and I didn’t decide to be gay.”

Bertolino, said that he and Leipold began attending functions for the Greek organizations Bertolino advised as a couple and people quickly accepted them as such.

“Once people got to know us as people, the rest didn’t matter,” Bertolino said.