A seasoned attorney and longtime advocate of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people will speak at Ithaca College on the policies, laws and rights surrounding LGBT people.

Bill Goodman will present “Get the FAQs: An Update on Policy, Law and Civil Rights of LGBT People in America.” The event will take place Thursday at 7 p.m. in Textor 102.

In celebration of National Coming Out Day on Oct. 11, Ithaca College annually presents a speaker to address a specific LGBT topic.

On Oct. 11, 1987, half a million people swarmed into Washington as they marched for gay and lesbian equality. From this march stemmed an idea to publicly educate and inform people about the issues facing LGBT people, said Lisa Maurer, coordinator of LGBT education, outreach and services at Ithaca College.

After a year of planning, people celebrated the first National Coming Out Day on the first anniversary of the march.

Maurer said that until that time, many people regarded these issues as private and were not comfortable speaking out about them.

However, Maurer remembers hearing one of the people involved comment “It’s almost impossible to have an invisible movment.” And from that point forward, it has been far from invisible, creating numerous opportunities for education and understanding, including Goodman’s talk.

“He’s really got a unique skill in explaining these kinds of events in ways that non-legal scholars can understand,” Maurer said.

Maurer said that Goodman is “very down to earth” and he “really gets into the community,” organizing such things as last year’s first annual Pride Parade in Ithaca.

Goodman is a former member of the Empire State Pride Agenda board of directors.

Maurer expects him to touch onboth small and large scale LGBT issues — from the city of Ithaca amending its non-discrimination laws to Supreme Court decisions regarding the legality of certain sexual acts. Many of these issues, Maurer said, affect much more than LGBT people.

Maurer said she thinks it is beneficial for all to attend Goodman’s talk.

“It will give all people, regardless of their sexual orientation, an opportunity to hear about these issues from a person whose background is the law,” she said.

Goodman’s talk will promote knowledge and acceptance of LGBT people and issues, beyond the standards provided by law.

“It will encourage people to find out more about issues, maybe, if they’re not so familiar with them, or if they want to know how they might impact, if not themselves, their friends and family members,” Maurer said.

In light of National Coming Out Day, Maurer encourages people to “be aware that there may be people in their lives who may not be out or may be thinking about coming out, and to encourage themselves to be ready.”

Information and support is available in LGBT Education, Outreach and Services in the Hammond Health Center or online at http://www.ithaca.edu/lgbt.