Emotion and politics aside, Phil Martin believes the facts can break social barriers.Martin spoke before approximately 50 students at a meeting of the Bisexual, Gay and Lesbian Alliance Wednesday night. Martin, executive director of the non-profit organization Stonewall Columbus, organizes the planned discussions between gay Ohio State students and OSU student athletes.The discussions come in the wake of an incident in which an OSU wrestler shouted obscenities at an openly-gay OSU student.Martin was encouraged when Susan Henderson, director of human resources in the athletic department, asked Stonewall to facilitate the discussions.”(The athletic department) needs to be commended on this,” said Martin.Martin feels facts are a better vehicle to break down stereotypes than are lectures or criticisms of people’s political beliefs.”When you talk about chemistry you don’t ask, ‘How do you feel about the molecule?’ you ask about facts,” Martin said.One focus of the speech was to recruit Bi-GALA members, particularly athletes, to participate in the talks.Martin believes sports will serve as a common ground to break the ice between the different groups in the discussion which Stonewall has labeled “Homo 101.””This isn’t about political correctness. We use humor and even a few slang terms to make it more fun,” Martin said.The idea to meet with athletes is a good one, said Joshua Black, a senior majoring in Spanish and Political Science and co-chair of Bi-GALA. “Anti-gay prejudice is a very serious problem in OSU athletics,” he said. He added that the problems are not just in athletics.The gay community is like a baseball team, Martin said, because everyone plays a different position, but all for the good of the team. The different positions referred to different beliefs among gays about such divisive issues as public sex and cross-dressing, Martin said.The talks will also benefit current gay athletes at OSU because their teammates may be more aware of their situation, he said. “I guess that I’ve always wanted to speak,” said Justin Fitch, an undecided sophomore. “I’ve played sports my whole life, but I’d particularly like to speak to younger people because I feel that’s where the education is really needed. I’m glad they told us about this.”