If only this orgnisation had been set up earlier

The Prisma Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Youth Organisation has only been in existence since August of last year, but, in this time, it has been very active promoting the rights of young people whose sexual orientation differs from “the norm”, not least by organising various events.
 
The group meets up at the Laden für Soziokultur at number 7 Kirchenstrasse in the city on a monthly basis. Last Friday, when a journalist of the Zuger Zeitung went along, the evening was also open to heterosexuals who were also invited to join in making placards with slogans such as, “I am queer and I am here” for the Pride event which takes place in Zurich on Saturday 10 June. On the walls of the premises were others which said, “We do not want special treatment; we just want to be treated like everyone else.”
 
As Mara Labud, a pupil at the Cantonal School and a co-founder of this Prisma organisation, said, the idea behind it all was to have somewhere where young gay people, whether they have come out or not, could meet up and just be themselves. Labud, who comes from Oberägeri, is also responsible for organising various events. At present these are self-financed but the group is also looking for funding from elsewhere, perhaps from the individual municipalities. This would mean they would be able to organise more events, such as trips away, or film evenings followed by discussion sessions, the idea being, the more people involved, the better.
 
What is known is that those events organised so far have been very much appreciated, as Sam Müller, also a pupil at the Cantonal School, confirmed. “When I realised I was not “quite normal”,” she said, “Prisma did not exist at that time. Had it done, I am sure it would have helped me considerably.” She feels that, if there were more support from alternative circles in the canton, it would encourage more people would to become more tolerant of gay people. “At present, I feel locals here are for the most part somewhat conservative in their views,” she said, adding how sad it made her, when people who had been to a Pride event made sure any stickers they had on them were removed, because of the reaction they may have had to them having arrived home. “I know this is something which is not just common in Zug, but in other parts of Switzerland, too. When I was in England, people I met there there could hardly believe homosexuals could not get married here; they, the English, had previously thought of Switzerland as a progressive country.”
 
Despite all this, Labud (second from the left in the photograph) was pleased to report that she felt the situation with regard to society accepting gay people had improved, but was still not what it should be. “We do not want to be forever the subject of controversial discussion; we just want rights duly accorded to us like any other people,” she concluded.