"We became better human beings for what Mike did," Elke said.

Callaghan, who came out a few weeks ago to the women's water polo team, said she was grateful for having Crosby as a role model for coming out.

"It definitely gave me a lot of confidence to know that Mike had done it before," Callaghan said.

Administrators from the Athletic Department attended Sunday's event, and Patricia W. Henry, senior associate athletic director, said she was impressed with what the students had to say.

"I give the student athletes a lot of credit because I know it took a lot of courage to participate in the event," Henry said.

The event began with a 10-minute clip from an HBO series on homosexuality in athletics. Davidson next asked panelists a series of questions he had received from OutSports.com--a website dedicated to supporting gays in athletics--after which audience members were able to address the speakers directly.

One of the central topics was the lack of societal support for gay athletes compared with other minorities.