Pride Week to include celebration, education on LGBTQ community
Monday begins Central Michigan University's week-long celebration and education effort of the LGBTQ community, known annually as Pride Week.
CMU's Office of LGBTQ Services organizes the week's events.
Kicking off at noon, Sexual Aggression Peer Advocates is hosting an LGBTQ presentation at the Center for Inclusion and Diversity in the Bovee University Center.
The talk will center on domestic violence and sexual assault in the LGBTQ community.
“The topic is usually only discussed through the heteronormative viewpoint,” said Shannon Jolliff, the director of the office of LGBTQ services.
Monday night’s event will be Zumba, the popular dance fitness activity, at 7 p.m. in Plachta Auditorium.
Tuesday will include a soup and substance discussion called "Is Trans Life a Drag?" It will take place in the Bovee University Center Terrace rooms at noon and will be sponsored by Diversity Education and Transcend, a registered student organization dedicated to support for transgender people and their partners and families.
Tuesday night features A Night Honoring Norma Bailey at 7:30 p.m. in the Center for Inclusion and Diversity. Bailey is an education professor at CMU and activist in the community.
“She has worked toward campus being more inclusive and accepting,” Jolliff said. “We felt it was really important to thank her for all her work.”
On Wednesday, there will be a Day of Silence photo shoot from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Center for Inclusion and Diversity.
Participants can sign up to get their picture taken in black and white, with red duct tape over their mouths in symbolic support for individuals silenced by bullying and hate.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for Wednesday's drag show in Plachta Auditorium. The event begins at 7 p.m.
On Thursday, Safe Zone Training will take place from 2 to 4 p.m. at UC 108. The purpose of Safe Zone Training is to provide the campus community with the tools necessary to be a safe zone for LGBTQ students, faculty and staff.
Thursday night, LGBTQ Services is sponsoring The Queer Monologues. The event will take place in the UC Auditorium at 7 p.m. The performance features a series of monologues and personal stories from the LGBTQ community, similar to the Vagina Monologues' format.
Jolliff said Pride Week is a chance for the campus community to come together for education, but also for fun.
“It is that time for celebration and a time for thanking people for everything they've done," she said. "It’s also a time for education, like through Safe Zone Training."
Teresa Perdomo, a Chelsea junior, said Pride Week is beneficial for the CMU community.
“I think it’s a very good thing,” she said. “It adds awareness and promotes inclusion.”
