By Obed Manuel
Opinion & Copy Editor

The Gay-Straight Alliance will host a poverty and HIV/AIDS charity benefit 6-10 p.m. Tuesday ,May 1, in the International Courtyard at Brookhaven College.

The event will feature live music, dancers, an art auction, drag fashion show and  guest speaker Zachary Thompson, director of the Dallas County Health and Human Services.

GSA president Adrianna Thompson said the GSA has been organizing the benefit since the middle of March.

Student Israel Avila, a member of the GSA and the Urban Dance Crew, will perform at the event.

Avila said he is hopeful the benefit will not only raise awareness about AIDS but will also generate acceptance toward the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community among those in attendance. “They say it only takes one person to change the world,” Avila said. “But we need more people to succeed.”

The Dallas Voice, a publication that focuses on LGBT issues around the city, is a sponsor of the event. The Brookhaven GSA Club and Dallas Resouce Center are also sponsors of the event.The GSA will charge an admission fee of $2 or two canned-good items. All proceeds will go to the Dallas Resource Center, a non-profit organization that serves the LGBT community.

The Dallas Resource Center provides health and medical services – including HIV testing, according to www.resourcecenterdallas.org.

Thompson said she hopes the benefit will raise awareness about sexually transmitted diseases and how couples and individuals can stay healthy by practicing safe sex.

“We can sit around and talk about the problems at hand, but it’s not until we take action that we can eradicate them,” Thompson said.