Mourners congregated in Dupont Circle Thursday night, in a solemn, candlelight vigil to remember Gallaudet University freshman Eric Plunkett who was murdered in his dorm room Sept. 28. The attendees and speakers focused on remembering Plunkett, but also on lending support to gay communities at D.C. universities and in the city.

Plunkett was the secretary of Lambda Society of Gallaudet University, a club for gay and straight students. He died from injuries sustained during a beating, leading to speculation that he was the victim of a homophobic crime. “Even if it wasn’t due to discrimination, it’s still violence and that’s something that affects us all,” Sean Greene (COL ’01), an executive board member of GUPride, said. A group of GUPride students and others from the Georgetown community participated in the vigil.

Greene, friends of Plunkett, other leaders of campus gay organizations and community members spoke about their experiences and impressions of the deceased and called for increasing action to remedy discrimination against gays.

Chris Carnahan, a straight student at Catholic University, spoke about intolerance he had observed towards gay students face at Catholic. “Being gay is called an ‘objective disorder,'” he said.

He cited specific instances of discrimination against gay students, including a printed message reading, “I hope AIDS is working its way up your a- right now.” Carnahan said the first, basic step in fighting intolerance is to “make campuses safer for students.”

Building on Carnahan’s call for action, Alyssa Gould of American University Queers and Allies outlined steps necessary for college campuses to build a supportive community for gay students.

“You’ve got to have equal funding, regardless of whether the administration likes you or not,” Gould said. “You’ve got to have a coalition building with other minority groups. Strength and power come from collaboration.”

Georgetown Unity Coalition, an organization comprised of representatives from the Jewish Student Association, Black Student Alliance, GUPride, NAACP and MEChA, was founded in response to anti-Semitic, homophobic and racist incidents occuring in the winter of the 1999-2000 school year. Greene called the coalition a “melding of the minds of different associations.”

Characterizing Georgetown as “extremely Catholic,” Greene said that GUPride “has fought for all it has, in terms of money and recognition within the minds of people who attend.”

While all speakers recounted their firsthand experiences of discrimination and oppression, they praised the community for turning out en force to show support. Repeating the phrase, “You are not alone,” the speakers acknowledged the growing gay community in D.C. and thanked attendees for participating.

Describing the communication process between Georgetown, George Washington, Catholic, Galludet and American, Gould said, “We got in touch with people for the first time. Seeing people together is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.”

Brett Stansfield, a member of GWPride, agreed with Gould and called for sweeping change.

“I want homophobia and hate speech to end,” he said. “Everyone should feel safe to be who they are and everyone needs to think about what you can do to make students feel safe.”