CMU hosting Pride Week next week
Central Michigan University will be kicking off Pride Week on Monday.
Sponsored by the Office of LGBTQ Services, Director Shannon Jolliff-Dettore said the week shows that “we are making progress and doing great things on campus.”
“Pride Week has traditionally been a week of celebration on our campus for the students, faculty, staff and community members of all sexual orientations and gender identities,” Jolliff-Dettore said in an email. “It is a fun week filled with educational events as well as events like our drag show for pure amusement and fun.”
Pride Week is not only a celebration involving students, but the community of Mount Pleasant as well. Jolliff-Dettore said Pride Week is “the closest geographic celebration for folks to come together” on campus.
“All of our events really have a great learning component to them,” Jolliff-Dettore said. “This year, the inclusion in programming is greater than years past. From activism to the drag show, there is something for everyone."
Several events will be occurring throughout the week sponsored by the Office of LGBTQ Services. The first event is a speech given by Charlene Strong, an advocate for equality, on Monday beginning at 7 p.m. in the Bovee University Center Rotunda.
“Charlene Strong will provide a powerful keynote address to our campus,” Jolliff-Dettore said. “Attendees will have an opportunity to hear her story, learn about her activism work with President (Barack) Obama, and interact with a Q & A session.”
Tuesday will be packed with both fun and educational events.
Soup and Substance will be Tuesday, featuring CMU alum Brandon La Forest and will be free and open to the public at noon in the Bovee UC Marron/Gold/Chippewa Room. Following that event at 4 p.m. in the Gold Room will be Go There! Conversation fostering discussion on whether or not Pride Week events, such as Parades, are helpful or hurtful to the LGBTQ community. Later in the evening at 7 p.m., the Office of LGBTQ Services will be hosting a poetry reading at Kaya Coffee House, 1029 S. University Ave.
There will also be a Drag Show Wednesday beginning at 7 p.m. at the Finch Fieldhouse.
Thursday, there will be an event in the UC Gold Room providing Safe Zone Training at 3 p.m. The program will include training on terminology, the current LGBTQ climate on campus and how to foster a Safe Zone.
The Spectrum of CMU will be sponsoring "How Good is Your Gaydar?" at 8 p.m. in the Bovee UC auditorium, which will be hosting a conversation about stereotypes that surround sexual orientation and the LGBTQ community.
As the week ends, students, faculty and staff will be invited to have their photo taken for the Day of Silence Photo Shoot with Matthew Bryan Pruitt on Friday from 1 p.m. until 5 p.m. in honor of Day of Silence.
Jennifer Carver, an intern with the Office of LGBTQ Services, hopes these events will have a positive impact in the local community and provide a celebration for the LGBTQ community. She believes Pride Week celebrations will send the message that the CMU campus is inclusive and accepting.
“In addition to that, Pride Week raises awareness for people who may not be so familiar with some of the issues individuals in the LGBTQ community face specifically,” Carver said.
