Lisa Maurer was tired of people asking for the “gay perspective” on topics. So three years ago, the coordinator of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Education and Outreach Services began the “Out of the Closet and Onto the Screen” film series as a reminder that members of the LGBT community are as diverse as everyone else.

This year’s theme is “The Many Meanings of Family.”

“I really wanted to encourage people to think of gay folks in terms of being multidimensional, as well,” Maurer said. “And our family structures and our family situations … reflect that, just as people who are not L, G, B or T have very diverse family structures.”

The films will cover topics such as children in LGBT families, LGBT families from different cultures and families dealing with HIV/AIDS. “Camp Lavender Hill,” co-produced by Michael Magnaye and Tom Shepard, kicked off the series Sept. 1.

Others films shown this semester will include “De Colores,” co- produced by EyeBite Productions and Woman Vision; “In My Shoes: Stories of Youth with LGBT Parents,” by the Colage Youth Leadership and Action Program; “No Dumb Questions,” produced and directed by filmmaker Melissa Regan; and “One+One,” produced by Walking Iris Films.

Junior Elyssa Kolber, educational committee chair for prism, Ithaca College’s LGBT student organization, is excited about the focus on family this year.

“If you’re ever talking about problems about the sexual and gender minority community, one of the big things is, ‘I can deal with a stranger making fun of me. I can deal with that. But I want to be able to talk to my mom. I want to be able to talk to my brother, my child,’” she said. “So I really think that this is very, very exciting.”

The series will span the entire academic year, with five films being shown this semester and another six in the spring, including a night of short films in February.

Maurer decided to spread the films throughout the year to give students something to look forward to. The films also serve as a constant presence.

“We’re multidimensional [people] 24/7, 365 days out of the year,” she said. “Although I like the idea of a concentrated film festival, ... I like the sort of subtle reminder that ... we exist in the world all the time.”

The films, which are open to the public, have attracted the attention of nearby colleges, as well. Several LGBT student groups from surrounding schools will be making trips to attend the films this year. Past guests have included students from Binghamton University, Cornell University and Wells College.

Kolber attended all of the films in last year’s series. She encourages all her friends to attend the events.

“By having it open to the public ... it really allows for someone to say, ‘Oh, this affects my life,’ and it breeds inclusions, which is so important, especially on a college campus,” she said.

Junior Aaron Escobedo, co-president of prism, said he also hopes the films will spark campus-wide discussions. He said that family is the perfect theme for this year’s series.

“I find that it really does strike a chord in our society right now,” he said.

When choosing the films, Maurer talks to others in the LGBT community and asks students what they would be interested in. Then she decides the topic of the series and has to find films to fit the theme.

“Part of the challenge is finding out about [the films], and the other part then is choosing,” she said.

Maurer found the films by contacting organizations, both LGBT and non-LGBT affiliated, related to the series’ topic to get film recommendations.

Escobedo said he thinks that movies are the perfect way to address the issues of the LGBT community, issues like faith, racial and ethnic identity, all of which were topics of previous “Out of the Closet and Onto the Screen” series. He believes that films make the topics more approachable to the public.

“[Maurer’s] taking such a popular entertainment venue, the movie, and really just makes it accessible to everybody,” he said. “We all like to go watch movies. And these are educational movies, and they’re really good.”

Escobedo, whose busy schedule only let him see two films last year, said he wishes more people would attend the series. At each of the films he saw last year, the audience was no bigger than 10 people.

The films chosen are works generally not found in the mainstream, so festivals and films series like Ithaca College’s offer a unique opportunity, Maurer said.

“They’re not films you’d stumble upon everyday in the video store or that you’d necessarily see at the cineplex,” she said.

“De Colores,” the next film in the “Out of the Closet and Onto the Screen” series, will be screened at 7 p.m next Thursday in Textor 103.