International performance artist Tim Miller addressed gay issues through a comedic performance in what he called a "queer night at Tech."
The Association of Creative Writing at Texas Tech hosted Miller's "Sex Body Self" performance and lecture at 8 p.m Thursday in the Human Science building.
The performance with Miller reenacting his birth, which he referred to as "one queer little spermlet fighting the odds."
Miller, a controversial performance artist who taught theater at the University of California, Los Angeles, California State University, Los Angeles and New York University, said he develops shows based on his personal life as a gay man and as an activist.
Miller spoke about several political issues, including gay marriage and equal treatment.
"I am the same as you," he said. "So why am I getting treated differently?"
Miller alternated between spurts of explanation for several minutes and performing short pieces he said were "a playful satire" on serious concerns.
Whitney Neal, a junior architecture major from Brady, said she thought the performance was "erotic and different."
"He tested the boundaries," she said. "Whatever your sex, you should be able to do that."
At one point in his performance, Miller crossed the stage and told the audience about a man he dated during his senior year in high school, a man who was stabbed outside of a bar with an ice pick.
Also, Miller performed a piece about his experiences at Montana's Gay Pride rally in 1997.
"The Ku Klux Klan from 12 counties came with their festive outfits," he said, gesturing above his head with his hands.
As he walked along a sidewalk, he said, several men in a pickup truck with a gun rack pulled up to a nearby intersection and threw a half-full can of beer at him.
Miller said it was not a regular can, but a "Sunday morning, family-sized, after-church" sized beer can, which hit him in the hand.
"Probably three stitches at most," he said.
And instead of becoming a "homo-super hero," he said he waited for the traffic light to turn green and watched the truck drive away.
However, Miller said, he believes there are possibilities for a better future, which can be achieved by coming together and discussing the social and political issues of equality between people of all sexual orientations.
"Our country may be on the verge of an entire new place," he said, referring to the upcoming presidential election. "I'm hopeful."
In the end, he said, everyone is on a journey "to be true to ourselves and to find ourselves."
The Association of Creative Writing will host a workshop instructed by Miller between 10 a.m. and noon today in the gymnasium of the Exercise Science Center.
"And you don't have to be a performer," Miller said. "Come by. It'll be fun."
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