Celebrate the Past and Future of Pride
October is LGBTQ+ History Month, when we honor the experiences and achievements of LGBTQ+ members of our Wolfpack. Meet the students who are helping to lead the festivities at NC State, and learn how you can take part.
Tucked into a corner of the fifth floor at Talley Student Union is a cozy and colorful space that welcomes students of all identities: the LGBTQ Pride Center. The center’s team of students and staff, led by Pride Center Director Charla Blumell, is joining other campus partners to host a series of events during October in recognition of LGBTQ+ History Month, making now the perfect time to engage with this lively community.
“The best first step, if you’re interested in the Pride Center, is just to come in,” says Leio Ibarra-Mendez, a fourth-year student double majoring in science, technology and society and political science who’s been a student coordinator at the center since 2022. “You can get tapped into the community quickly, because a lot of people here are involved in other student organizations and know about other resources inside and outside of NC State.”
Visit a Vibrant Space
Ibarra-Mendez serves as programming lead for a team of student coordinators who help manage events and activities at the Pride Center. The coordinators work the front desk during the center’s open hours, greeting students who step into the space with a warm welcome. They also lead other students in a monthly topical discussion forum called Queer Quorum.
Each student coordinator draws upon their talents and interests to put their own unique spin on their role.
“Anyone is welcome into the center,” says Kai Nicanor, a second-year student majoring in social work and psychology who helps manage the center’s social media channels. “It’s an important place for intersectionality, because you get educated on so many different things, and it’s a great place to get firsthand accounts of other people’s experiences.”
You get educated on so many different things, and it’s a great place to get firsthand accounts of other people’s experiences.
“For a lot of students, it’s the first place where someone might call them by their preferred pronouns,” says Reese Croom, a second-year applied mathematics major who helps analyze student feedback and improve student experiences at the center. “We have a great group of core students, but we also have new students coming in every semester.”
Tanvi Sapre, a fourth-year social work major and the newest member of the student coordinator team, serves the center as library coordinator. Sapre brings to their role a wealth of experience as a leader in student organizations, including T-Files, a community for transgender, nonbinary and gender-nonconforming students on campus.
Sapre also harbors a passion for art, and they recently created a painting for the center that celebrates the students who fill the space with so much energy and vibrancy.
“In the painting, there’s 16 Pride flags split evenly between two canvases,” says Sapre. “The goal was to have as much representation as possible, so that people could look at it and see themselves in it.”
The Pride Center team cultivates an active calendar of events throughout the academic year, so there’s no shortage of opportunities to engage at the center. They also work hard to provide students with access to resources that support mental wellness and academic success.
“Here at the center, we have connections with the Counseling Center and NC State CARES,” says Ibarra-Mendez. “We also have Jarrett Blaize, our embedded counselor.”
There’s no need to have a specific reason in mind when entering the Pride Center, however. Students are always more than welcome to just pop in, relax and be themselves.
“The people make it so worth it to come in here every day,” says Croom. “They are what makes the Pride Center the Pride Center.”
Engage at On-Campus Events
The Pride Center and its partners have already kicked off their celebrations for LGBTQ+ History Month, which began with an interactive art exhibit featuring LGBTQ+ artists in the Hill Library’s Cyma Rubin Visualization Gallery. Events are continuing throughout October, and they’re open to everyone on campus and in the wider Raleigh community.
It’s kind of like a mini-Raleigh Pride . . . you can have a great time no matter who you are.
The month’s signature event is PrideFest, a parade and lawn party taking place on the afternoon of Oct. 7. Those interested in the parade activities can convene at Wolf Plaza at 12:30 p.m., where they’ll be able to design posters before stepping off on a parade that will follow an accessible route around campus. Afterwards, participants will converge on Stafford Commons for food and fun.
“It’s kind of like a mini-Raleigh Pride,” says Ibarra-Mendez. “There’s a lot of people tabling, a lot of people walking around, people laughing, people just having joy. There’s people offering free haircuts, there’s free food, and you can have a great time no matter who you are.”
Threads of Identity, another signature LGBTQ+ History Month event (which takes place a second time in the spring semester), invites students into Talley’s Mountains Ballroom to try on and take home clothes that make them feel like themselves. Private dressing rooms and sizing charts make the experience easy and comfortable.
“It’s kind of like bringing a thrift store to the community, and it’s amazing for sustainability and cost, because it’s free,” says Nicanor. “It’s a great resource for people who are trying to step into their identity more and figure out what they want to do in terms of gender expression.”
“It’s especially helpful for many trans students to be able to find clothing that feels like them and that doesn’t come at a hefty cost,” says Sapre.
The Pride Center and its partners chose a unifying theme, “The Future of Pride,” to tie this month’s celebrations together. This theme was chosen to reflect the idea that the history of LGBTQ+ people is not a static past, but a living, breathing reality that is continually being created.
“It’s important to remember our past, to understand what’s happening in our present and to stay vigilant of the future, so we can support each other and continue to survive and move forward,” says Nicanor.
“It’s about looking at the progress we’ve already made and how far we’ve come, and about making things even better in the future,” says Croom.
“People who are 10 or 20 years older than me, they didn’t necessarily have a lot of queer elders,” says Sapre. “So just being able to see that people from all generations are queer, and knowing that your people are there, is really important.”
Beyond these signature gatherings for LGBTQ+ History Month, the Pride Center will play host to additional events during October. These events include a Rainbow Reading Chat focused on LGBTQ+ authors and books, a special Queer Quorum delving into wellness resources and skills for navigating family interactions, and Sex in the Dark, which allows students to anonymously pose questions about sex and sexuality to a panel of experts.
“We always want to get more people connected to our community, including allies,” says Ibarra-Mendez. “Even if you’re just a little bit interested in an event, come on and check it out. You never know who you might meet and what you might learn.”
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