Pride Month is just around the corner and students are excited to celebrate. Each year in June, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) people are fully represented and celebrated.
Humboldt State has a club called Queer Student Union that welcomes all HSU students. Their mission is to create a safe, open and confidential atmosphere where persons of all sexual and gender identities can gather.
Bonnie Anthony is part of the Queer Club at HSU who’s not only celebrating Pride Month in June but also her birthday.
“I’m excited to meet up with some other queer (and vaccinated) friends during Pride Month,” Anthony said.
Gay pride is the promotion of the self-affirmation, dignity, equality, and increased visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people as a social group. During the month of June, cities around the world celebrate gay pride by holding events, parades and gatherings in honor of the LGBTQ+ community. Whether you consider yourself part of the community or just an ally, all genders and sexual identities come together to celebrate the equality and love for the gay community.
“I used to go to local pride events every year before COVID,” Anthony said. “I always had a good time and felt like it was an inclusive, chill environment to meet other people.”
Robin Brown is a member of the LGBTQ+ community who feels safer and overall happier when they are around other members.
“I love seeing so many different parts of the community all together at Pride, such as younger queer kids attending their first Pride or older queer couples who have been celebrating for years,” Brown said.
Brown’s relationship with their friends and family hasn’t always been super accepting, however, they are trying. They expressed how much the HSU community has made them feel more welcomed.
“The Queer Student Union Club has helped me during quarantine,” Brown said. “Things can get lonely not being able to see my in real life friends often, so it’s nice to be able to talk to people like me online.”
Miranda Asch is also excited about Pride Month and all of the festivities. She is looking forward to making lemon bars which are the official dessert of bisexuality.
“I haven’t been to an actual parade but I’ve been to pride festivals, it’s pretty cool,” Asche said. “There are lots of booths set up with resources, giving out free stuff, and people bring their dogs and I get to pet them.”
Though there are still those who discriminate against the LGBTQ+ community, Asch has been fortunate enough to find acceptance from those around her.
“I’m lucky enough to live in a supportive environment where I could just come out casually by talking about a crush I had on a female video game character,” Asch said. “I feel like coming out to myself was the hardest part since I kinda just brushed off crushes I had on girls for years since I also got crushes on boys.”
With the progress made with the COVID-19 vaccine, Pride events this year are likely to return to some form of normalcy.
“My favorite thing about Pride Month is seeing all the passion from the community,” Asch said. “People make art of all kinds and it’s so exciting to see. Oh, and making homophobes mad.”
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