The lobby of Lincoln Hall on East Green was quiet and had the tiptoeing stillness of a school hall after classes were over and teachers were gone. Resident Director Mickey Hart's office light was on and murmuring voices emerged through the door. It was August 26, and an informal meeting of Open Doors was in progress.

"Overall, we're doing some ground-breaking work," Hart, archives director for Open Doors, said of the group's preparation for Coming Out Week, which is scheduled to begin on National Coming Out Day, Oct. 11.

Although given the name of Open Doors in the mid-80s, the group is Ohio University's longest-running gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and friends student organization with roots back to the early 70s.

"We're open to anyone in the Athens area," Hart said.

Open Doors requires no monetary dues and meets each Wednesday at 8 p.m. in the United Campus Ministry (UCM) building on 18 N. College Street.

Hart, along with Executive Director Amy Carle and Networking Director Chip Flory, have mapped out a tentative plan of events for Coming Out Week.

A hike and picnic Sunday at Strouds Run will start off the week and Monday will include a lunch, rally and T-shirt designing event on College Green, a possible time slot at Ping Center and a program that evening.

Tuesday will offer a lunch discussion at Baker Center; a Coming Out Christian seminar sponsored by UCM; an evening vigil. Wednesday with afternoon discussion; a potluck dinner where OU faculty, staff and student organizations will be invited; the weekly Open Doors meeting at 8 p.m. with a reading afterwards.

Coming Out Jewish, sponsored by the Hillel Foundation, will be Thursday's main program and the Swarm of Dykes weekly meeting will follow at 9 p.m. in Baker Center. Friday afternoon there will be a cookout sponsored by the OU chapter of Delta Lambda Phi, a nationwide social fraternity for gay, bisexual and progressive men, and His Kings, a drag group out of Columbus, will perform that night at the Casa Cantina, 4 W. State St.

"Coming Out Week coincides with OU's Homecoming," Flory, who also is a staff member of OU's Marching 110 band, said of event's last day. "We would like to get a float together."

Some other groups working with Open Doors for Coming Out Week includes SOD, which was formed at OU in early 1997 and is described in a pamphlet as a "political action group that actively fights homophobia, gender norms, and the patriarchy of society with a creative flare;" Delta Lambda Phi, which was founded nationally in 1985 and locally in 1997; Gay, Lesbian, or Bisexual Employees of OU (GLOBE); UCM, which sponsors Celebrations of Faith services during Coming Out and Pride weeks; and Women Education Business Services (WEBS), which provides a lending library of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transsexual books and publishes a local newsletter titled Wimmin's Ink.