Campus News

UK Celebrates 2022 Pride Week

Rainbow cookies.
Mark Cornelison | UK Photo.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 6, 2022) — This Week, the University of Kentucky Office of LGBTQ* Resources, housed in the Office for Student Success, will celebrate Pride Week. 

While Pride Month is nationally recognized in June, to provide students, faculty and staff with an opportunity to honor Pride on campus, every April, UK celebrates Pride Week. Throughout the week, campus acknowledges the diversity of identities, experiences and histories in the LGBTQ* community and recognizes all who have and continue to advocate for LGBTQ* lives, rights and visibility.

“We understand how crucial finding community and support are in ensuring that our students succeed," said Marianne Young, assistant vice president for Student Development and Support. "Pride Week is an important way for members of our community to come together to learn, connect with one another and engage with services that our Office of LGBTQ* Resources provides throughout the year.”  

The LGBTQ* Resource Center is housed in the Dinkle-Mas Suite in the Gatton Student Center. Opened in 2018, the Dinkle-Mas Suite serves as a hub for accessing the services of the Office of LGBTQ* Resources. The office offers community building, education and advocacy initiatives that support students, faculty and staff in succeeding as their open and authentic selves. All year, individuals can visit the suite to access direct or referral services related to on-campus housing, holistic health and inclusive institutional identifiers. 

The office kicked off Pride Week on Monday with a Queer Book Talk with Greg Bourke, followed by a Coffee Hour Open House on Tuesday. 

Events for the rest of the week include:

  • LGBTQ+ Community Fair | Wednesday, April 6 from noon to 2 p.m.
  • Interfaith Resources Fair | Thursday, April 7 from 3 to 5 p.m.
  • April Pride Party | Friday, April 8 from noon to 2 p.m.
  • Gayla hosted by UK Gay Straight Alliance | Friday, April 8 from 7 to 9 p.m.

While Pride Week on campus lasts five days, the university’s commitment to taking a stand against discrimination, celebrating diversity and solidarity is a constant. This commitment has not gone unnoticed. 

The university has received recognition from Campus Pride’s “Best of the Best” Top 30 LGBTQ-friendly colleges. Annually, Campus Pride releases its list highlighting the campuses that score the highest percentages in the LGBTQ-friendly benchmarks for policies, programs and practices.

Although diversity on campus is not measured by awards and accolades, they are a testament to the work of the Office of LGBTQ* Resources to create an inclusive culture year-round.

The campus community can drop by the Dinkle-Mas Suite Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. If you are a student and would like to stay up to date on events hosted by the Office of LGBTQ* Resources, register to join the Discord server, a free voice, video and text chat app open to undergraduate, graduate and professional students at UK. 

As the state’s flagship, land-grant institution, the University of Kentucky exists to advance the Commonwealth. We do that by preparing the next generation of leaders — placing students at the heart of everything we do — and transforming the lives of Kentuckians through education, research and creative work, service and health care. We pride ourselves on being a catalyst for breakthroughs and a force for healing, a place where ingenuity unfolds. It's all made possible by our people — visionaries, disruptors and pioneers — who make up 200 academic programs, a $476.5 million research and development enterprise and a world-class medical center, all on one campus.   

In 2022, UK was ranked by Forbes as one of the “Best Employers for New Grads” and named a “Diversity Champion” by INSIGHT into Diversity, a testament to our commitment to advance Kentucky and create a community of belonging for everyone. While our mission looks different in many ways than it did in 1865, the vision of service to our Commonwealth and the world remains the same. We are the University for Kentucky.