Pride 2021

As a queer man myself, I have a few foolproof tips for any allies on various ways to support your queer friends during Pride Month.

Berkeley Police Department, or BPD, announced in a press release June 1 that officers will be allowed to wear queer pride pins — a decision made in “commitment to, and support of,” the LGBTQ+ community.

As we celebrate Pride Month, we must honor the LGBTQ+ artists who also double as activists, historians and guardians of their communities.

On the “Pride” page of the University Health Services, or UHS, website are the mental health resources campus offers for queer and trans, or QT, students. 

Former campus archivist William Benemann was going through the Social Protest Collection in the Bancroft Library when he came across a mimeographed form from 1970 written by campus’s Gay Students Union. The form asked former California governor Ronald Reagan to attend the first openly-gay dance on campus after he told a KQED reporter that he hadn’t been invited.

Before the Stonewall riots marked the beginning of the modern gay rights movement, and even in the time following, members of the LGBTQ+ community existed within a “hidden subculture” in the Bay Area, according to Robert Plantz, former president of the GSU from 1969 through 1970.

Pride flags embellished Berkeley Unified School District, or BUSD, campuses throughout the month of June following the passage of BUSD’s Resolution 21-041 at a board meeting June 2.

The prevalence of astrology in queer culture is a sign of the times, representing a proud reclamation of place and purpose in the world.

Even through the screen, The Aces were able to create an environment and show that was incredibly uplifting and welcoming, a true safe space for members of the queer community to celebrate Pride.

There’s almost always the white, cisgender, straight-sized protagonist and their exploration of their queerness, all packed with a nice little bow and colorful pop music. There’s never a plus-sized, anxious, brown bisexual floundering in college.