Emphasizing they should not be called “gay performers,” members of Boston University’s Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender student club cracked jokes, recited monologues and played ukulele at the second annual Cabaret show last night at the George Sherman Union’s BU Central.

Lib Tietjen, secretary of GLBT group Spectrum, said she hoped the 40 students at BU Central would look at the performers without attaching labels to them.

“I wanted the audience to see the performers as performers, not gay performers,” the College of Arts and Sciences freshman said.

Spectrum President Katie Uva, who played acoustic guitar last night, said despite last-minute difficulties, including a lack of microphones and performers dropping out, the show went on. Uva, a CAS freshman, was named president in January 2007 after former President Stephen Henrick, a CAS sophomore, resigned for personal reasons.

“Many people didn’t know about the Cabaret, [but] the turnout was overall impressive,” Uva said. “The crowd reflects the testament to the gay, lesbian, [bisexual and transgender] students at BU.”

Performer Stephanie Barrak, a CAS freshman, said even though she is not a Spectrum member, she wanted her performance to connect with GLBT and non-GLBT audience members.

“I wanted to make a personal connection with the songs to the audience,” she said. “For non-GLBT students, I wanted them to also get a personal connection that other GLBT people get through my music.”

While one musician performed a cover of the Bob Dylan song “Monsters in a Closet,” other performances included comedy acts, duets, an ukulele performance, monologues and improv games requiring audience participation.

Spectrum announced in September 2006 that the group would be moving away from gay-rights activism and would turn toward working and raising the club’s social aspects, according to a Sept. 15 Daily Free Press article.

Uva said she does not consider Spectrum to be an advocacy group.

“We are officially a cultural group,” she said. “We do some protesting, but we are not a political action committee.”

Barrak said the student body is very open to gays.

“People here are very open, and I feel very comfortable in this environment,” she said. “GLBT students can fit in with non-GLBT students easily.”

CAS freshman Rebecca Madden, who has friends in Spectrum, said she was impressed with the Cabaret performances.

“I haven’t attended other Spectrum events, but I what I saw was freaking unbelievable,” she said. “I would attend another Spectrum event in the future.”