Due to staffing, The Pride Center will be closed after 4pm today. We expect to open tomorrow during our regularly scheduled business hours. Feel free to visit any of our other i3b spaces or email us at i3b@umbc.edu if you have any questions. We apologize for the inconvenience!

We would like to take a moment to thank our (seb) partners this weekend for a successful event this past Saturday evening. We'd also like to thank all of our attendees for a fun night of entertainment and costumes! As we are winding down from our largest event this semester, we wanted to share some additional queer-friendly/centered Halloween related festivities. 

We will be closing today at our normal 6:30 time but we encourage you to swing by tonights' QPOCalypse event hosted by QPOC from 7:00-10:00p.m. in The Commons SportsZone.

To support other Halloween festivities, our center will close at 6pm tomorrow, Tuesday, Oct. 31. We will also be out supporting our sister Center The Mosaic and Off-Campus Student Services for their Potion Making event.

Stay tuned later this week for photos, music playlists, and other fun highlights from this past weekend. 

With Pride,

-The Pride Center for LGBTQIA2+ Diversity staff

LGBTQ+ History Month originated in the United States, and was first celebrated in 1994. This month-long observance of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer history celebrates role models, and the history of the LGBTQIA2+ rights and related civil rights movements. In the United States, it is celebrated in October to coincide with National Coming Out Day on October 11. However, countries recognize this month at different times of the year according to their specific significant events (e.g. United Kingdom recognizes this in February)

Founded by Missouri high-school history teacher, Rodney Wilson, many queer organizations supported the concept early on as did Governors William Weld of Massachusetts and Lowell Weicker of Connecticut, who recognized the inaugural month with official proclamations. In 1995, the National Education Association indicated support of LGBTQ+ History Month as well as other history months by resolution at its General Assembly.

Wilson chose October as the month for the celebration due to National Coming Out Day. It was established as a widely known event, on October 11, the date of the Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights that took place in 1987. June is recognized as Pride Month to commemorate the Stonewall Riots taking place on June 28-July 1. 

We have some upcoming events for the month to coincide with this cultural month. More details will be released later in another post. 

With Pride, 

The Pride Center Staff Team

To say that we have been surprised at the increased foot traffic in our space this semester would be an understatement! We appreciate how many new and returning faces have swung by and keep coming back this year. Our student staff have been gracious enough to offer some additional time at the center for Mondays and Fridays. 

Starting next week, our center will be closing at 6:30p.m. Mondays and Fridays with the intention to engage with our community for a little longer. Please stay tuned for more engagement opportunities. 

-Carlos Turcios on behalf of The Pride Center Staff

We were definitely BLOWN AWAY at the sheer number of folks who stopped by at our Ice Cream Social today as part of Welcome Week. Unfortunately, we were not expecting such a high turn out that we have completely run out of ice cream. We do however want to remind you all that we are open until 9:00p.m. this evening. 

If you were unable to stay long for today, we hope that you swing by out center at some point during our regular hours. 

Have a prideful evening!!

-The Pride Center for LGBTQIA2+ Diversity Staff Team

I hope you all have found some time to rest during the summer. You may have noticed that the group page that served as the i3b group page has reverted back to its original owner, The Mosaic: Center for Cultural Diversity. In an effort to improve our targeted engagement, data, and assessment our department has made the decision to create individual myUMBC pages for each center and the i3b department. Below is the list of our new pages:

Our listservs will continue to exist, however, it will be used for communications with non-Campus partners, families, and alumnx. As we continue to build out our resources we also ask for you to follow our Linktree pages and i3b Instagram linked below:

We appreciate your patience as we integrate these updates and onboard new staff. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us at i3b@umbc.edu. 

-Carlos A. Turcios on behalf of The Pride Center for LGBTQIA2+ Diversity Staff Team