Next week, the Undergraduate Government of Boston College’s GLTBQ Leadership Council (GLC) will introduce its first GLC Pride Week. Pride Week will involve a set of events and activities aimed at providing a space for LGBTQ students to celebrate their identities and educating allies on how they can support the community on campus.
This year, GLC is placing a special emphasis on intersectionality.
“We’re trying to make it more inclusive to a bunch of different identities,” said Anne Williams, chair of GLC and MCAS ’17. “We’re focusing on intersectionality. So, how sexual orientation and gender identity intersect with race, class, ability, etc.”
In previous years, GLC held a similar event called National Coming Out Week. As part of the effort to be more inclusive, GLC wanted to expand its emphasis and include more stories than just coming out in this year’s program.
“We want to change that because coming out isn’t always part of people’s narratives,” said Nick Massimino, vice chair of GLC and LSOE ’18.
According to Williams, there is a growing debate on the emphasis on ‘coming out’ as a central piece of what it means to be queer. There would not be a need to emphasize ‘coming out’ if society were less heteronormative, Williams said.
The week will kick off with a barbecue on Oct. 11 to celebrate National Coming Out Day, during which those who feel it is an important part of their story can share their experiences.
“We are here and we will not be silent, so it is time to make changes to better the lives of LGBTQ+ students at Boston College NOW.”
—Dylan Lang, president of the Graduate Pride Alliance and GSSW ’17
On Oct. 12, GLC will hold an LGBTQ panel, which will focus on queer issues on a global scale. GLC will also host a game night on Oct. 13 that is co-sponsored with Allies, a student group focused on how to be an ally to the LGBTQ community.
GLC will hold a community breakfast on Oct. 14. Pride Week concludes Friday night with a closing festival held in the Vandy Cabaret Room. At the closing ceremony, various a cappella groups will perform.
At each of the events throughout the week, GLC will distribute “Support Love” T-shirts. The shirts, however, will only be given to those who write down and submit a question they have about the LGBTQ community. These questions will then be read and answered between sets or songs on Friday night at the closing festival.
“We hope for people to be genuinely interested,” Williams said. “We have a lot of wonderful stories to tell. We’re a really vibrant, diverse, varied community. We have a lot of pride in who we are. We’re not going anywhere. We have a right to exist here.”
Although the dates of Pride Week have been set for months, it comes at a time of renewed conversation on campus, following the vandalization last month of a parking sign in the Mod Lot with an anti-gay slur. Last week, several student groups on campus, including GLC, held a march that hoped to break the silence many believe exists around LGBTQ issues on campus.
“I hope that the administration sees that there are so many LGBTQ+ students at BC who are proud to be themselves,” Dylan Lang, president of the Graduate Pride Alliance and GSSW ’17, said in an email. “We are here and we will not be silent, so it is time to make changes to better the lives of LGBTQ+ students at Boston College NOW.”
Featured Image by Lizzy Barrett / Heights Staff
