by Elizabeth Hovanesian

Through musical performances by the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles (GMCLA), students on Tuesday saw how the LGBT community deals with homophobia on a day-to-day basis.

There are 240 singers in the chorus, but Tyler Houston, Billy Thompson, Jason Curry, Sasha Saket, Tyler Karofsky, Joshua Zimmerman and Mario Mosely were some of the singers who performed in front of students from Daniel Pearl Magnet High School and a few other schools at the Saban Theater in Beverly Hills on April 22. The musical theatrical performance is part of CMCLA’s It Gets Better tour.

GMCLA is not only comprised of gay men but also transgender or straight singers. It is for everyone. The goal of GMCLA is to use music to strengthen the leaders of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) community as well as performing arts organizations. It also aims at supporting youth of the LGBT community against  homophobia.

During Tuesday’s performance, the GMCLA team introduced themselves and shared their stories hoping the audience would have a better understanding on how a young gay man feels in  society and the issues they face daily.

After the performance, GMCLA members had a Q&A session.

“What was the most difficult thing to do after coming out?” asked DPMHS student Yoselline Gutierrez.

“Not being ashamed of who I am,” Saket said.

The phrase “It will get better” was used numerous times make clear that by standing strong and being proud in who you are, it will get better.