To schedule a My Truth panel in your class, living group, fraternity/sorority or student group fill out the panel request form. To become a panelist contact the staff.
About My Truth
My Truth panels are educational interventions in which volunteer gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and supportive heterosexual allied people share their personal stories and responds to questions and comments from an audience. These panels are frequently used on campus to reduce homophobic/heterosexist attitudes while also serving as an outreach program of the Center for LGBT Life. Often these panels are used in a classroom setting to provide personal experience in addition to course material.
Panel Description
Panels usually consist of 2-4 people that identity as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or a heterosexual ally. Panelists can be students, faculty, Staff, parents, or people in the local community. The general format is for panelists to share brief versions of their coming out stories or their experiences in dealing with the queer community as an ally, relative, etc. Then the panel gets involved in an active Q&A session with the audience. The program gets rave reviews, and everyone in attendance (panelists, too) learns not just about the lgbt climate and concerns but they also learn about valuing the differences that each person at Duke brings to the table. Sometimes funny, sometimes challenging, My Truth is a fantastic way to teach AND learn more about the diversity of the people that make up Duke!
Panelists
If you can talk about yourself then you can be a panelist! We try to represent as wide a variety of viewpoints as possible, so we welcome folks with any type of Duke affiliation. If you are wondering, "I bet they aren't really trying to target me," then - chances are - you are just the kind of panelist we are looking for! We gladly welcome faculty, staff, administrators, graduate/professional students, and undergraduates. We especially welcome folks who tend to be underrepresented in our panelist pool - particularly bisexual and transgendered persons and racial minorities. We are especially interested in adding allies to our ranks. Many of our discussions have been about what it REALLY means to be an ally. We just want to be able to provide a variety of viewpoints to our host groups.