Aluminate Magazine Fall 2019
Pride Week: Collaborating Across Campus
Featured story by Dr. April S. Callis, LGBTQ Center Assistant Director
For the first time in recent memory, a Pride Week celebration was held at UNC-Chapel Hill. Spanning April 8th through 12th, Pride Week included twelve events hosted by eighteen organizations.
At the beginning of the week, the LGBTQ Center invited students to Tie Dye Pride Week T-shirts. LGBTQ Center Ambassador Larson Carter was instrumental in planning the event as well as giving tie dying demonstrations day of. Gabby Brown and Mariel Eaves worked together to create the t-shirt design, which highlighted the collaborating organizations and departments involved in Pride Week. Monday was also the start of an online awareness campaign spearheaded by the student organizations Sexuality and Gender Alliance (SAGA) and the Black Student Movement (BMS) which focused on the intersections of gender, sexuality, race and ethnicity.
During the week, a variety of events were held on and off campus. These included a screening of The Imitation Game, Queer Karaoke, a Pride Field Day, an Interfaith Prayer, and Queer Trivia. On Wednesday, the European Studies Department held a mini LGBTQ Film Fest. And on Thursday, April 11th the LGBTQ Center and the Graduate School partnered with the Medical School’s Queer Straight Alliance, Kenan-Flagler’s Pride Club, Lambda Law Students Association, and STEM Pride of the Triangle for a Graduate and Professional Student Mixer.
The culmination of Pride Week was Queer Prom, which was cohosted by the LGBTQ Center and the Sexuality and Gender Alliance. Over 130 students braved a severe storm to dance the night away in a space decorated like an enchanted forest. Attendees also enjoyed a dedicated game room and a custom cake shaped like a unicorn. Thank you to our Graduate Student, Erin Case, and our volunteer Safe Zone facilitators who helped us by volunteering for prom (Edward Moreira Bahnson, Lauren Townsend, Jhom Cimmino).
Pride Week 2019 at UNC-Chapel Hill was a rousing success. In total, there were 465 attendees across the multiple Pride Week events. Planning is already underway for Pride Week 2020!
What's Inside
In this edition of the LGBTQ Center's semi-annual magazine:
- Collaborating Across Campus: Pride Week at Carolina 2019
- Reaching New Milestones in Safe Zone Programming
- Cultivating Community among Graduate and Professional Students
- A New Opportunity: LGBTQ Center Advancement Council
- Looking Ahead to Fall 2019 Programs and Events
- Recognizing LGBTIQA+ Achievement at Lavender Graduation
- Carolina Pride Alum Network Celebrates Two Years of Connection
- Thank You to Our Partners