June is recognized as National Pride Month in order to commemorate the Stonewall Riots, an event regarded as the beginning of the modern-day LGBTQ movement. To celebrate Pride month, the Georgia Tech Student Government Association (SGA) looks back at the progress made on campus related to LGBT community and resources.

Pride Alliance, formerly known as the Gay and Lesbian Alliance (GALA), was founded in 1988 by a group of Georgia Tech students who wanted to create a space on campus for LGBT students to safely be themselves. Originally, only gay men and women were recognized in this organization. However, as the years passed, GALA eventually changed its name to Pride Alliance in order to welcome others and reflect a change in mission.

Today, Pride Alliance is the only LGBTQ student organization on campus. The group has been instrumental in discussions involving gender-inclusive housing, a new Classroom Best Practices Sheet, the Path Forward – Together initiative, and many other large endeavors taken on by passionate student leaders. Its main event is representing Georgia Tech in the Atlanta Pride Parade each year, where students, staff, and faculty can celebrate the success and beauty that exists within the LGBTQ community.

The LGBTQIA Resource Center was established in Spring 2014 as the first resource center solely dedicated to the needs of the LGBTQ community. This center was a result of work between the Division of Student Life and Institute Diversity to ensure that there would always be a location for the Georgia Tech community to be given the tools to improve their experience at Tech as a member of the LGBT community, or an ally who would like to learn more about how to support the community. Aby Parsons, who left Georgia Tech at the end of the spring semester, served as the Center’s inaugural director.

The center expanded from a one-room office to a multi-room space in Fall 2018, following the objectives that were consolidated from the Path Forward – Together’s LGBTQIA Community Support Action Team. Students now have a permanent space to interact with one another safely and freely, programs hosted by the LGBTQIA Resource Center have a secured location, and the addition of a coordinator, Camilla Brewer, has made events smoother and more frequent. Some of the signature events hosted by the LGBTQIA Resource Center are Safe Space trainings, Queer Coffeehouse, and Lavender Graduation.

Though there has been momentous work done by the LGBTQ community and their allies on campus, many endeavors are ongoing or upcoming.

This Pride month, we ask each person to be mindful of the history unfolding around them and the passionate people who make it happen. Please continue your support of the LGBTQ community, and Happy Pride Month!

— Genny Kennedy, SGA vice president for Student Life and president of Pride Alliance