Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) Pride Month is celebrated each June to honor the 1969 Stonewall uprising in Manhattan, a tipping point for the gay liberation movement in the United States. (USC illustration)
Honoring LGBTQ+ achievements: USC kicks off Pride Month with virtual event
The Pride Month Celebration will feature a variety of speakers sharing personal stories of inspirational LGBTQ+ people in their lives or careers.
To kick off Pride Month, USC is hosting a virtual celebration June 1 to honor the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of the LGBTQ+ community.
The Pride Month Celebration will start at noon Tuesday and feature a variety of speakers with diverse perspectives, sharing personal stories of inspirational LGBTQ+ people in their lives or field of work.
Speakers include USC President Carol L. Folt; Richard Zaldivar, founder and executive director of The Wall Las Memorias Project; Karen Tongson, chair of the Gender and Sexuality Studies Department at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences; Tom Henkenius, president of the USC Lambda LGBT Alumni Association; and Megan van der Toorn, student equity and inclusion programs manager for USC’s LGBTQ+ Student Center.
Last year featured several major changes to LGBTQ+ institutions at the university, including the renaming of USC’s LGBT resource to the LGBTQ+ Student Center on Oct. 11 — National Coming Out Day — and Edwin Bodney being named USC Student Health’s new LGBTQ+ campus advocate and educator.
Those who wish to attend the virtual event can visit this link. A full list of USC Pride Month events can be found on the university’s event calendar.
