UK Celebrates Pride Month 2021
LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 4, 2021) — June is Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) Pride Month. Celebrated nationally in the United States, Pride Month traces back to the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in Manhattan — a tipping point that changed LGBTQ* activism and the gay rights liberation movement in the U.S.
“Each summer, Pride is an opportunity to celebrate the diversity of identities, experiences and histories in the LGBTQ* community and recognize all who have and continue to advocate for LGBTQ* lives, rights and visibility,” said Rayne Parker, assistant director of the Office of LGBTQ* Resources. “As with other recognition months, this is an opportunity to highlight LGBTQ* pride and advocacy and should continue to be recognized all year long.”
The Office of LGBTQ* Resources, housed in the Dinkle-Mas Suite in the Gatton Student Center, will be celebrating Pride beginning next week.
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 long, individuals can visit the suite to access direct or referral services related to on-campus housing, holistic health and inclusive institutional identifiers.
For this year’s Pride celebration, the office will share their top picks of LGBTQ* media, answer frequently asked questions, host events and celebrate on their Instagram (@ukylgbtq). The office of LGBTQ* Resources will host the following events:
- Virtual Coffee Chat for employees, 9 a.m. Monday, June 7.
- SafeZone Workshop, 3 p.m. Wednesday, June 16. A 90-minute workshop to equip individuals to be more aware and active allies. This workshop explores LGBTQ* identities, strategies for supporting student experiences and exploring LGBTQ* related campus and community resources. SafeZone Workshops have a capacity of 50 and will be rescheduled if there are less than 12 registrants 36 hours before the event.
- SafeZone Workshop, 11 a.m. Tuesday, July 6.
- Lexington Pride Festival, due to COVID-19, the date has been set for Sept. 25.
Pride has a deeply intersectional history, rooted in taking a stand against discrimination, celebrating diversity and solidarity and speaking up for what is right. In many ways the university has a similar history. Deeply embedded in our identity as an institution is the responsibility to observe and testify to notions of value, community and belonging.
The university’s commitment to creating a campus of belonging and an environment for people of all backgrounds and identities 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 not only during Pride Month, but year round.
For more events celebrating Pride Month, the Lexington Pride Community Services Organization will be posting its latest events on Facebook. Additionally, you can participate in virtual Pride festivities taking place across the country from Seattle, Washington, to Washington, D.C.
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.
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.