UVA Wise To Host Fourth Annual Pride Week in September

Tie-dyed T-shirts, drag shows and civil rights will all be featured when UVA Wise welcomes all to champion and celebrate diversity and equity during its fourth annual Pride week in September.

The College’s Office for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) sponsors a week of Pride activities, panels and events kicking off Monday, September 5.

“Pride Week is an annual staple in our DEI programming,” UVA Wise Associate Director of Compliance Molly Land said. “This week allows us to celebrate, educate, remember and identify resources and allies for our LGBTQIA+ students, faculty and staff. We are excited to continue traditions from our past Pride Weeks and add a few new events for 2022.”

First-generation UVA Wise senior Brittany Horton, an openly bisexual psychology major and DEI intern this semester, knows from personal experience and her studies how important understanding differences—including race, sexuality and ethnicity—can be.

“I feel it is extremely important to show our campus is diverse. When a community consists of individuals with different cultural backgrounds, the knowledge of that community tends to increase. Diversity allows us, as individuals and as a collective, to gain more insight and remain sensitive to various cultures,” said Horton, who attended the first-ever Pride Week and has volunteered each year since.

When she first came to UVA Wise, Horton decided to keep her sexuality private because of safety concerns. When she first visited campus from Chesapeake, Va., she was met with homophobic words.

“The campus wasn’t as diverse when I first came here, and there were not as many resources for people who were anything other than white and straight,” said Horton who serves as an SGA senator-at-large.

Eventually, Horton couldn’t hide her identity any longer.

“When other students heard I was bisexual they had no clue what that meant. A lot of them had never met someone openly bisexual and they would ask me all kinds of questions,” Horton said. “I came to learn that people are willing to listen and that is a beautiful thing.”

Horton says events like Pride Week are important to continue to educate, provide information on diversity and inclusion, and provide space for people to be who they are.

“Being open and seen gives people the room to see that it is okay to be who they are and that they have community on campus who will listen to them and that they matter,” she said.

Horton encourages all students, staff and faculty to check out the Pride events.

Those interested in volunteering their time, energy or support to the week should email dei@uvawise.edu.

Pride Week Celebration events

Monday: Tried, True and Tie-Dyed
Pride Week kicks off with a favorite UVA Wise Pride tradition: tie-dyed T-shirts.

In 2019, Logan Baker, a student then who later graduated in 2020 with a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry brought the idea of a Pride day to UVA Wise Associate Vice Chancellor for DEI and Title IX Coordinator Tabitha Smith.

“I pitched it as a pride day and she said how about we do a week. She was so enthusiastic and championed it,” Baker said.

“There were students, professors and people of all ages and backgrounds making these T-shirts. It was very heartwarming for me to see people were embracing it. At the end of the week, we wore our pride shirts and took a photo with Chancellor Henry. That really meant a lot to me that we had that level of support from the Chancellor.”

Now, Baker lives in Los Angeles where he is a Strategy Insights & Planning Associate Consultant at ZS Associates, which is a global life sciences consulting firm. Baker is co-lead of the company’s Pride@ZS diversity, equity and inclusion group in the L.A. office.

Horton carries on the work at UVA Wise. Just like that first Pride, students, faculty and staff can come to McCraray Lawn and make their own tie-dyed T-shirts. LGBTQIA+ shirts are provided for the first 150 participants.

This year, the tie-dying begins at 10:30 a.m. Horton recommends people come early because the shirts will run out fast.

“Students always want them, which is great,” Horton said.

Tuesday: Trans Resources
At 11 a.m. in the Slemp Student Center atrium, staff will be on hand to share information about the Trans community, the usage of pronouns, health care rights and campus resources.

“LGBTQIA+ people are four times more likely to experience violence in their life, with 50 percent of transgender people being sexual assaulted at least once in their life. With national sexual violence statistics supporting these facts, it’s on us as a campus community to promote understanding and respect. It’s not enough to just show basic human kindness, but we must go beyond that and be ‘Cavalier Kind’ so all can safety learn,” said  Smith.

Smith adds that the College has 52 gender-neutral, single-occupancy restrooms across campus. Additionally, UVA Wise has gender-inclusive accommodations for on-campus housing.

Students can always check out UVA Wise diversity and inclusion resources online.

Wednesday: Pride Week Drag Show
The Pride Week Drag Show is free to the public and will be held Wednesday, September 7 at 7 p.m. at the Black Box Theater in the Gilliam Center for the Arts.

Miss Tri-Pride Sya Cox O’Hara will host the show, which will feature Anna Tomical, Austin Rayne and Vandeja Voo. A Question and Answer panel will immediately follow the show.

O’Hara is returning from last year’s Pride week during which she gave a workshop on drag makeup.

“It was absolutely awesome. She taught us how to do drag makeup and people asked questions about what songs she uses on stage,” Horton said. “It was fun. I hope people will come out, keep an open mind and enjoy the show.”

Thursday: LGBTQIA+, Human Rights and Civil Rights Speaker
LGBTQIA+ advocate and black trans rights activist Kendall Stephens will share her knowledge and expertise via Zoom on Thursday at 1 p.m.

While a student at Temple University studying social work and public health, Stephens survived a transphobic attack in her Philadelphia home. She shares her story to raise awareness around the US. Follow her on social media @phillykendall.

Friday: Allies Meet and Greet
UVA Wise raises a “toast” to the LGBTQIA+ community and allies with some avocado or peanut butter toast at 9 a.m. at Books and Brew.

“If you are an ally, you will be able to potentially help others in your community who are struggling with some aspect of coming out or who have a family who doesn’t understand,” Horton said.