Picture this: rainbow flag decorations, queer organizations tabling on McAlister Drive and drag queens visiting campus for special pride events. This image may sound like it belongs to the month of June, which has been designated as LGBT Pride Month in honor of the Stonewall Riots of 1969. In reality, this is what a typical October looks like at many schools across the country, including Tulane.

“The thing is that Tulane students aren’t in session during the month of June,” Kennon Stewart, sophomore and chair of the Gender and Sexuality Affairs Committee, said. “And so the actual reason behind it was that a lot of students, because they might not necessarily be out to their family or their friends, don’t get to celebrate pride month during the actual month.”

And October is not just an arbitrary month chosen to give college students the opportunity to celebrate their identities. It is also the month designated by the National Education Association as LGBT History Month. Several different days of October are dedicated to raising awareness for different LGBT+ identities and issues, including Intersex Awareness Day on Oct. 26 and Spirit Day on Oct. 20, which is a day to show support for LGBT+ victims of bullying.

Several campus partners are hosting events to commemorate Pride Month, including Tulane After Dark, GSAC, Gamma Rho Lambda and the Gender Exploration Society.  

Though these events are centered on creating a positive environment for LGBT+ students, any and all gender identities are welcome at Pride Month events. There is also a special focus being placed on representing members of the LGBT+ community that are often underrepresented.

“One thing that we are very intentional in doing this pride month is, seeing as how a lot of Pride Month has been centered around cis male voices or cis gay men, that was really an inconvenience to queer femmes, and so we have movies centered around queer femmes and the queer femme experience,” Stewart said.

Any member of the Tulane community who is interested in becoming more involved with this month’s programming and with similar events in the future are able to join the number of queer organizations on campus, which can be found on Tulane’s OrgSync page. Students are also able to attend GSAC meetings as students-at-large.