The lone event for Pride Week this year took place Wednesday evening.
When people think LGBT, many don’t consider asexuality in the discussion.
That was not the case for the lone, discussion-based “Be PrOUd” event for Pride Week, which was held in the Scripps Amphitheater on Wednesday at 5 p.m.
Thirteen people attended the event and asexuality was a large topic of discussion for the group.
“I think with planning this event I really wanted it to be discussion-based,” said Ryant Taylor, LGBTQA Affairs commission of Student Senate, at the event. “I think with Pride Week, a huge question that comes to mind for me is ‘What is pride?’ and ‘What should we be prideful about?’ ”
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Before the event, Taylor, Kim Oswald and Jordan Riley taped up various flags to represent different groups within the LGBT community, such as bisexuality, non-binary and allies.
The event was the only event in this year’s Pride Week. Taylor and his commission were responsible to host and plan the week. The event lasted about an hour.
Riley, a junior studying media, said that the Facebook event showed that about 40 people would come, but he believes that the smaller group better stimulated conversation.
“I got to hear a lot of first-person perspectives on asexuality,” Riley said. “I had seen a documentary on it, but other than that it was the first time I had gotten to understand that in a first-person perspective.”
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At the event, attendees sat in a circle on the amphitheater stage and spoke about the experience of coming out, stereotypes and queer movies and literature. While many of the attendees were LGBT-identified, some came just to tune in to the discussion.
“As far as I know … I’m not a member of the LGBTQA community but I really like when people can talk about that stuff and be open about it,” said Rachel Baker, a freshman studying social work. “It’s really cool to hear other people and how they went through it.”
