I recently got the experience recently to table for Campus Pride at Youth Pride Day in Washington DC. It was great to hear many great compliments from people saying how nice it was to see you here and how they would have liked to have such resources when they were younger too. Many youth explored the Campus Climate Index and added their names to the newsletter listserv. I gave a brief talk regarding Campus Pride and one of our universities, George Mason University, was there and spoke about how they completed the index and their programs they offer.

Youth Pride helped expose teens to new organizations and opportunities. It also exposed participants to LGBTQ friendly colleges and universities.

Thank you very much to the organizers for having Campus Pride table at your event and for all your hard work and support for LGBTQ youth.

You can find out more about the event at:
http://www.metroweekly.com/feature/?ak=4213
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How do you define pride?

Many people have different ways of defining pride below are two students' definitions of pride:

“As a Black man who is romantically gay and politically queer, ‘pride’ has a much more universal connotation for me. When I speak of pride, it’s not just a declaration of the security I posses living an authentic life, or of celebrating the wonder of who and how I love – it’s a statement of the intersection of all of the experiences that comprise my life and my person and how in and because of all these things I am who I am. I am a Black gay man because if I were to divorce any of these from the others (and the myriad of other experience that orient my identity) I would navigate and negotiate this world in a completely different way. It is because of these things that I am me, and I am me because I am all these things. I make me proud – thusly, I am proud of all that I am. More than ‘pride’, I am proud.”
(M. Brewer)
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Having pride means knowing what your proud of. Taking strong notice of our historical narratives which offered us the reason and the privilege to be out and proud; the Stonewall Riots, the life and leadership of Harvey Milk, the impact of AIDS/HIV activism & all those that have sacraficed their time and energy for the sake of bringing a voice to the community. This is what "pride" means to me.
--
J. Fogata

You can add your definition of pride to our blog!

Thanks,
~Dan