Awareness of sexual orientation issues is spreading within the LGBTQ community, but making the average University student care about those issues is the challenge at hand.”There is a visibility problem,” said Bruce Parker, Safe Space Campaign coordinator and education graduate student. “I don’t think that the queer community is very visible.”The LGBTQ community came together Thursday for its first social event of the semester — the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and their Allies mixer.”It’s an exciting time to be gay at LSU,” Parker told mixer attendees.The Office of Multicultural Affairs Safe Space Campaign hosted the mixer at the African American Cultural Center. The campaign’s mission is to improve services for LGBTQ students, Parker said.”It was really important to have an event for the LGBTQ students and their allies to connect, get to know each other and see that they’re not the only ones on campus,” Parker said.  Like-minded students showed their support for the LGBTQ community at the mixer.”The mixer spreads awareness,” said Morgan McCarty, history freshman. The intimate setting promotes a more social environment, he said.  Parker said the OMA, the Women’s Center and other awareness organizations are making progress.”There is a commitment within the diversity arm, and they have been committed to LGBTQ issues for a long time,” Parker said. “We have a commitment to be better. I don’t think that it’s shared across campus.”Many mixer attendees are members of Spectrum, the student organization representing LGBTQ issues at the University.Pairing Spectrum meetings with LGBTQ events promotes active participation within the community, said Isabel Blum, Spectrum president and communication disorders junior. Lynsie Mumphrey, psychology sophomore, also agreed spreading the word would enhance the LGBTQ community.”There are a lot more gay people on campus that don’t know about these events,” she said. Parker said he hopes the mixer leaves attendees with the will to get involved.”I hope people see that there’s work to be done, that there’s allies and friends and there are resources in the presence of staff who are committed to it,” he said. —-Contact Margy Looney at [email protected]