A record number of U students marched in Sunday’s Pride Day Parade, highlighting the growing support of the gay community on campus, participants say.
About 120 students-more than any year before-rode on the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Resource Center float or marched behind a Lesbian & Gay Student Union banner through downtown, according to Charles Milne, director of the LGBT Resource Center.
“Today is such a wonderful expression of community, and the U is very pleased to have students, faculty and staff joining together in support,” said Kay Harward, associate vice president for enrollment, who marched with LGSU in the parade.
Lauren Littlefield, co-president of LGSU, was “amazed” at the turnout.
“There were 35,000 people at Pride Day, and probably 95 percent of them stopped by our booth to donate, say hi or just say that they support us,” Littlefield said.
Littlefield wanted to let people know about the student group, which has been on campus since 1975.
“LGSU is a very upstanding part of Utah’s gay community. We’re going on 30 years, and we wanted to make sure everyone knew we were still here,” Littlefield said, commenting on the reason LGSU participated in the parade.
Along with LGSU’s booth, the LGBT Resource Center set up a booth where passersby could purchase stress balls and Mardi Gras beads to help raise funds for the center.
Clint Hayward, a staff member in the Student Services Building, was one of the volunteers manning the booth.
“We’re here to get information out and let people know we’re an on-campus resource, and we can arrange talks in classes and provide more background about the LGBT community,” he said.
Many of the people who visited the booth were students from other schools, such as Westminster College, and prospective U students wanting more information about support for LGBT students at the U, Hayward said.
That is what organizers had hoped for.
“Potential students often see the U as an intimidating place, and if we can get the word out that there is a place like this center that accepts them as individuals, they are more confident coming,” Milne said in an earlier interview.
Participants in Sunday’s parade said they wished more of the acceptance they felt at Pride Day could be transferred to the U.
“A lot of people I talk to describe Pride Day as ‘gay Christmas’ because they don’t have to worry about anyone or anything, and that would be nice for the LGBT community to have that same feeling on campus,” Milne said.
Harward said the campus is more accepting of the LGBT community than the past, but there is still room to grow.
“I’m pleased that the U is moving toward acceptance of differences,” he said. “But I hope there is a better embracing of minorities and that we all realize we are all after the same goal: the love, tolerance and acceptance of all peoples.”