On the grass in front of one of several tents, she dances with her silk, purple and pink veil fans, whirling through the air.
“I’m a performer at heart, so I decided to come out here and give everyone a little show,” said Amanda Scott, a first-year studying geology. “I got them off Amazon and have been freestyling with them ever since.”
On Tuesday, Scott was one of many attendees at PrideFest, NC State’s annual outdoor festival celebrating its LGBTQ+ community, hosted by the LGBTQ Pride Center. From 2-6 p.m. at Stafford Commons, attendees enjoyed music, various vendors, organizations, clubs, games and activities. Shaniya Woolridge, a fourth-year studying anthropology and student coordinator for the LGBTQ Pride Center, shared the significance of such events and the importance of community celebration.
“I think that it’s very important to have events like PrideFest and Pride parade because it celebrates queer people in general, especially in a world where queer people have been isolated and not celebrated in the past,” Woolridge said. “PrideFest opens up a lot of resources for people of different identities across the board, it gets you familiar with the LGBTQ community on campus, where they might not come together like how they do at PrideFest.”
Near the beginning of the festival, a Pride parade took place around campus with members of the NC State Marching Band and Colorguard. Brief breaks occurred at designated stop locations, hosted by the Poole College of Management, University Libraries, Office of Global Engagement, College of Engineering and College of Sciences.
Outside Poole stood Gwen Howard, an academic advisor at Poole and student organization advisor for the Queer Business Student Association. Howard was stationed with a table handing out pins, stickers and temporary tattoos.
“It’s very important to Poole that all of our students are able to experience a sense of belonging and be able to be their authentic selves, personally, professionally and academically of course,” Howard said. “We’re really happy to be able to partner with the Pride Center, help them out and be able to contribute to the walk. We also sponsored the T-shirts this year.”
Howard said the festival is scheduled to be near National Coming Out Day, Oct. 11, part of LGBTQ+ History Month. The day was created in response to the Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay rights in 1987.
“On the one year anniversary, this day was coined because queer folk, people in the LGBTQIA community have to come out again and again and again in their lives and it’s hard, challenging and vulnerable,” Howard said. “Not everyone is accepted. This day serves to bring awareness, bring visibility, but at NC State, this is really just a beautiful celebration of the queer community, because we’re not here in June for Pride Month.”
The walk through campus was led by Drake Gomez, a student assistant at the LGBTQ Pride Center and community chair for Pride Alliance, one of the current eight queer student organizations on campus.
While walking, he led several cheers over a megaphone: “Hey hey, ho ho, homophobia’s got to go,” and “We’re here, we’re queer, get used to it.”
“I was part of PrideFest last year as well and I got to lead the march for them too,” Gomez said. “They asked me to do it again, which I was really happy to do. Come in on Wednesday and you can come say hi to me. I’ll probably be at the front desk.”
Amongst those who tabled were, to name a few, Pride Alliance, Campus Health, Radical Healing, Duke Health Clinic for Gender-Affirming Voice Care, Canines for Therapy, T-Files and oSTEM. At the T-files table sat Sanath Sekharan, a third-year in exploratory studies and the organization’s president.
Sekharan said T-Files is a transgender and nonbinary student organization that meets every other Tuesday.
“We basically alternate from more serious events that are covering more pressing issues that would face the trans populace or more lighthearted events,” Sekharan said. “People just want to have fun sometimes. PrideFest is really good because it lets people on campus know that they’re seen, especially in times like these, where it’s politically tumultuous for queer people.”
Nearby sat Robbie Leske, a fourth-year studying physics and chemistry, who helped lead the band in the Pride Parade, twirling a baton. Leske also tables for oSTEM or Out in STEM, a student organization focused on the LGTBQ+ community in science, technology, engineering and math fields. The organization meets every other Thursday, with events occurring both on Centennial and Main Campus.
“The events we try to do on both campuses both build community and also prepare you for a career where you can represent your own identity,” Leske said. “Visibility is a huge thing, and it’s super important to see other people who are in a similar situation as you and be able to know that you’re not alone.”
Jersey club remixes of popular songs filled the air as attendees stopped by tables, played games of cornhole and large Jenga, customized T-shirts and took photos at the photobooth. Some ate food from Soul’s Kitchen, El Rey Del Taco or DeeVine Dogs while others got haircuts in the Mobile Barber Truck.
Back at Stafford Commons, Scott stood and veiled fans nearby on the grass.
“PrideFest and things like Pride are for the people who have been discriminated against for so long,” Scott said. “I know there’s a lot of people who are like, ‘Why no straight Pride?’ No. You have not been persecuted and killed and chased out of your own country because you’re straight. It’s the acceptance of having a safe space where you can be yourself unapologetically. Coexist, be kind. It doesn’t matter if you don’t agree, as long as you’re not hurting anybody. That’s my motto.”
