Pride month to feature Ally Week

By Jenna Youngs

Published April 8, 2008

History presentations, a pride prom, a day of silence and an awards ceremony are only some of the myriad of events planned for this year’s Pride Month, a celebration of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community.

While making a bracelet during Monday’s Rainbow Craft Making event at the Craft Studio, LGBTQ Resource Center coordinator John Elizabeth Faughn said one of the best aspects of the annual Pride Month is interacting with MU community members who don’t regularly participate in events sponsored by the resource center.

“It’s all about being able to get out there and meet with people and really celebrate our community,” she said. “It makes the center more visible. There are students on campus who don’t know it exists.”

Faughn said Pride Month provides an opportunity for students and others to find out more about the LGBTQ Resource Center and the programming it provides year-round.

Triangle Coalition President Joshua Barton said events throughout the month let students learn about the LGBTQ community.

“Pride Month is a good mix of events that are not only educational but entertaining,” he said. “Obviously a reason we’re in college is for education. It’s a good way to get an education outside of the classroom.”

Barton said he’s particularly looking forward to the Pride in the Past event at 8 p.m. Wednesday. He said he and former Triangle Coalition President Charlie Calvin will present the history of MU’s LGBTQ community from the 1940s to present day.

“I learned a lot working on it,” Barton said. “We wanted to do it because we didn’t really know the history and think a lot of people should learn it. Our community’s history is very versatile, obviously every year something will be added to it because the community keeps getting bigger and better.”

This year’s Pride Month will feature an addition of Ally Week, which is this week, and features programming for students to become more aware of how to be an ally to the community.

Members of the new student organization Allies in Action planned events to both promote the group and provide information for students about how to support the LGBTQ community, president Lance Pierce said.

Pierce said the group presented the movie “For the Bible Tells Me So” Monday night, a film about five families who attempt to reconcile their religious beliefs with the fact a family member is gay. Pierce said about 25 people attended and engaged in a “thoughtful” discussion about their own experiences.

Pierce said he’s been impressed with students’ reaction and participation with Allies in Action.

“We have filled a niche,” he said. “A lot of people are supportive of the LGBT community but don’t know what to do to show that. They don’t believe in homophobia and heterosexism. We want to provide information and provide an outlet for people who want to do something.”

Barton said the week provides diverse events and hopes all students will participate in at least one event.

“Pride Month is a really important celebration of a part of the student body that is inclusive, not exclusive,” he said. “It’s not just the LGBTQ community, it’s the LGBTQ and (allies) community. Anyone can be an ally. With the history of the LGBTQ community some of our biggest achievements have been accomplished with the help of our allies. It’s a part of Mizzou life and culture that everyone, whether they acknowledge it or not, are a part of.”