By Jessica Hill at TNJN on October 15, 2011.

• Everyone is Gay, a program focusing on equality of gay and lesbians, brings about awareness through comedy, lip-syncing and dancing.
• Their goal is to make equality for all gay, straight, lesbian, bisexual and transgender possible through everyone’s contribution.
• Their program has been well received, including an article on MTV’s website and The Advocate.

Kristen Russo and Dannielle Owens-Reid, co-founders of Everyone Is Gay, rely heavily on comedy in dealing with difficult subjects.

Everyone Is Gay stopped by the University of Tennessee’s campus on Oct. 14 to express the importance of awareness and equality.

This event was open to both the students as well as the public, and had a large turnout. Kristen Russo and Dannielle Owens-Reid, the co-founders of Everyone Is Gay, hosted a program that not only had the audience laughing, but also talking about serious issues that arise in Knoxville.

“We started Everyone is Gay as a joke and the opportunity sort of just presented itself,” said Owens-Reid. ”We just fell in love with the whole, with everything I think.”

Their performance included slides from various podcasts, certain issues surrounding LGBTQ members and ways that people can do personally to help. They also spoke of awareness and of its importance through not only this community, but all over the world, involving ways in which every single person can make a difference.

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But they were sure to include their very own flare with dance moves, lip-synching and facial gestures.

“I think that this subject is very relevant on a college campus, especially UT campus. Dannielle and Kristen did a great job packaging info with entertainment,” said Drew Harvill, an audience member.

The Everyone Is Gay website features videos answering serious issues, both personal and broader questions that are pretty common. They post bi-weekly videos, and answer at least one viewer’s question every day.

Everyone Is Gay answers lots of questions on their website through email and pod-casts, which leads to lots of feedback from the fans.

“Getting feedback like the feedback we receive is literally what keeps us going, and I tell people that, like any thank you note we get, we write back and say thank you for sharing these words because it’s literally what fuels us the next step,” Russo said.

Though they offer some advice on pretty tough questions, they still speak of funny experiences, or often just joke around with renditions of Celine Dion.

This event was hosted by the CPC and Lambda organizations. Lambda, as well as OUTreach and various other organizations, are “safe-zones” on campus. These places offer advice, support and an overall safe environment for LGBT students.

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Editor: Hannah Margaret Allen