CWU Pride Week Celebrates LGBTQIA+ Community

CWU Pride Week will celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community with a series of events across campus May 25-29. Pride is a national movement that embraces lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, intersex, asexual and ally culture.

• A field day with competitive sports and games will kick off CWU Pride Week from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. May 25 on the Barto lawn. Participants can register here.
• A festival-style block party with activities, clubs, organizations, and businesses is scheduled from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on May 26 in the SURC.
• Neville Hoad will present a free lecture, Drag and the Pedagogy of the Normal Lessons from Botswana’s Miss HIV Stigma-Free Beauty Pageant, at 4 p.m. May 26 in Black Hall room 151. Hoad is an author and English professor at University of Texas at Austin.
• Bingo paired with a bake sale and prizes starts at 7 p.m. May 26 in SURC room 137.
• The Queer Art Show, which provides a positive space for expression, is scheduled all day May 27 in SURC room 137. Sign up and submit art here.
• A march and rally to acknowledge women in the queer community is planned from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. May 27 in SURC room 137.
• Shaka McGlotten presents Political Aesthetics of Drag at 3 p.m. May 27 in Black Hall room 151. McGlotten is a professor of media, society and the arts at Purchase College SUNY.
• Cat McMillen, CWU costume manager, will lead Find Your Inner Drag Queen or King from 4-6 p.m. May 27 in SURC room 135.
• Ryan Cassata, singer-songwriter and transgender motivational speaker, will combine music and activism in a free performance at 7 p.m. May 27 in the SURC Theatre. Cassata speaks publicly about gender identity disorder, transgenderism and bullying, and his own transition from female to male.
• Lavender Graduation will recognize LGBTQIA+ students for their achievements and contributions to campus at 6 p.m. May 28 in Black Hall room 151.
• A free amateur drag show is planned at 11 a.m. May 29 on the SURC west patio.
• The pride parade begins after the amateur drag show (around 1 p.m.) May 29 on the SURC west patio.
• A free professional drag show hosted by performers Aquasha DeLusty and Jenuwine Beauté, paired with live music by CWU a cappella group Fantastic Forte, is 7 p.m. May 29 in the SURC Ballroom.
• Queen Fling, an all-inclusive, all-ages dance at the Elmira in downtown Ellensburg, will follow the drag show (around 9:30 p.m.) May 29. Transportation will be provided by the student club ABLE (Access, Belonging, Learning and Equality).

For more information call 509-963-2127 or email equal@cwu.edu.

May 20, 2015