For this assignment, I decided to join a friend at a get-together that they were attending. They had mentioned it in passing one evening, and I had, more or less, invited myself along with their approval, after I had explained that I had wanted to go for a class assignment. There was a light lunch set out, with only about ~20 people who showed up, but the reason that I chose to attend this event is because any other circumstance I wouldn't have been interested. I decided to go to a get-together for a LGBT group, mostly all friends who tried to hang out once a month as a way to get to see one another and take time to just talk amongst themselves. While I wouldn't describe myself as close friends, he is an acquaintance/friend that I trusted to join in order to observe for our assignment. I knew I would be completely out of my element, which I most often am in all situations, but at least in this way I knew I had someone to support me. I entered the event with quite a few prejudice and preconceptions. While I am not homophobic and I don't judge others based on their sexual orientation, I still had some barriers creating a chasm between the differences of this co-culture and me. The main barrier that I had believed was automatically assuming differences between us. I don't know why I had this barrier, since I've had several acquaintance/friends who were gay, but at the same time I still had some apprehension and marked them as acting differently than me. I also succumbed to prejudice and stereotyping, grouping the whole into a single rigid category, assuming that the majority of the group would be flamboyant or overly sociable, even to the point of overbearing. These prejudices, of assuming I knew all about them before I had even met them, because they were gay I would already know about their beliefs in religion or God, their ideas about science, and their preferences in art. I had the arrogance to believe that I knew all about them before I had even begun to meet them. Throughout the event I met with different people, being uncomfortable because direct conversation and interaction is always one of my weaker points of communication, they were extremely accommodating, answering my questions with a smile and seemingly entertained by my desire to learn. Through visiting and interacting with these people, my stereotypes and barriers began to slowly crumble, as I learned more about them. There was one older gentleman who was a successful business, a man and woman who worked together as clothing designers with each having a respective partner, a neurology student, and an aviation major, as well as my friend in economics. They each come from such diverse backgrounds and cultures, one was African American, two were Asian American, and the remainder were Caucasian. They each have struggled through a stifling society because of their sexual orientations, and have overcome great adversity, especially initially associating themselves with the LGBT community. I discovered that these people were friends, but they also acted as a larger family. Their self-concepts had become developed, especially through communication with others as they had met one another and become friends, continuing with the association with groups, where they felt comfortable identifying themselves as LGBTs. Each had a different story about how they had 'come out of the closet', generally focusing around the self-concept of assumed roles, as they tried to define themselves with how they thought society wanted them to be, before finally determining that those roles didn't, and shouldn't be applied to them. They were their own person, and they owed it, not only to themselves, but also their friends and family to be proud of themselves. Only one person I met had suffered from familial neglect as a result of his coming out, and he mentioned that over time, he had come to grow closer to his family again and they were slowly repairing the chasm that had been made. As I listened to their stories and as I watched the group and individuals, I tried to use perception-checking to determine whether my perceptions were accurate. I used several methods of perception-checking, asking the individual themselves as I listened to their different stories, asking my friend about them as well and what they were like, as well as concentrating on their expressions and nonverbal messages as we talked and I asked questions.As I began to realize that my stereotypes were incorrect, I began to watch this group of friends more closely, and upon doing so, I noticed that the barrier that I had created, based on the assumption of differences, began to fall away as well. I had begun to bridge the gap because I began to realize that while these people were part of the LGBT community, first and foremost, they were people, just like me. I don't want to go so far as to create a barrier based on the assumption of similarity, but they each had life stories, they had triumphs and defeats, friends and family, and they were individuals with who I could relate on so many more levels that I had ever imagined. As I said earlier, I'm not sure why I had placed all of the barriers and stereotypes on others, and now I realize how foolish I was to initially believe myself, but I'm grateful that I was able to keep an open mind and look past my own insecurities to meet a great group of people. My own self-concept negated the stereotypes that I initially held, and overall, I feel like I grew changed for the better, adapting my self-concept through keeping an open mind as I communicated with others. There was a lot of nonverbal communication that became evident as I watched and listened to them, they often stood much closer than other people in a conversation. They seemed much more intimate with one another, even if they weren't together, generally hands on as they touched or hugged as they greeted one another and often standing very close as they talked. I was intrigued by how genuinely comfortable and at ease they felt with one another, while with me they stood closer than I am generally accustomed to, they withdrew to a slightly further distance than they did with one another. I feel that I am fairly accurate in the meaning of the nonverbal communication I observed, and also through perception-checking with my friend, he mentioned they felt at total ease with one another. They were a large family where everyone was close to one another, and this was shown by their nonverbal communication as they talked, touched, and interacted with one another. There weren't a lot of verbal communication cues that I noticed, the only one that I truly noticed was their verbal communication consisting entirely of a relational listening style and their almost exclusive use of empathy as they communicated with one another, building their supportive relationships that each had with one another. The only advice I have for others who might be interested in entering and interacting in this type of context is simply to keep an open mind. Be aware of your preconceptions and stereotypes, as well as being willing to adapt your communication to the group you are interacting with. Just as we've learned so far, we must be willing and able to adapt to our audience as well as ourselves in order to be competent communicators. If I were to encounter this social arena again in the future, foremost I would feel much more comfortable with the group. My preconceptions and stereotypes, along with the barriers I had built around my understanding of what the LGBT community was made me apprehensive and intimidated to initiate a conversation and interaction with them. But as I began to meet and talk with them, as I realized how wrong my assumptions began, I felt like I began to open up to them as they had with me. I began to feel more comfortable as I realized that we had similarities as well as differences, just the same way that I might interact with someone in class or out in public. The most important concept, and the 'all-encompassing' ideals expressed in the communication principles for a lifetime, has started me on a path to understanding, adapting, and ultimately improving my communication skills in every facet of my life.