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The Pride Center opened its doors to all students and faculty members on campus, welcoming the largest turnout for the organization’s annual open house that has ever been seen by the group. Tyler Warner • The Daily Beacon
Pride center reopens after diversity office defunding Isabella King
Contributor Bisexual, pansexual, transgender, aromantic, asexual and rainbow flags fly from the windows of the Pride Center, which reopened for the Fall semester after the Office of Diversity and Inclusion shut down on May 23, 2016. On Aug. 18, the Pride Ambassadors held their first open house in the Pride Center after Public Chapter 1066 passed, which defunded the diversity office. “The Pride Center is a welcoming space for the LGBTQIAA community,” Danny Glassmann, Associate Dean of Students, said, “to have a welcoming space to gather and community with one another, to educate the
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community on the LGBTQIAA community and their needs and to really just make the campus aware of the diversity of our campus. It’s really a safe space for students to gather.” Glassmann said support for the center grew more quickly after the Orlando shooting to increase awareness on LGBTQ events, resources and issues. Pride Ambassadors also attended the event to monitor the front desk, order pizza and drinks and educate and welcome attendees. The center supports students who have come out or are in the process of coming out and coordinates outreach events. After Public Chapter 1066 passed, many programs were cancelled. One of the few that survived was “Friendsgiving,” which brings together students who may not have come out to their families yet or may have trouble at home due to their sexuality for a Thanksgiving dinner.
A group of professors providing support for the center made a surprise appearance. One of their members is Misty Anderson, an English professor at UT. “Our whole reason for gathering is to try to figure out how we can be supportive of our students,” Anderson said. “We want to make sure we’re taking care of our students. Before we had a Pride Center, there was really no place for kids who were questioning or queer to go.” She described watching surrounding schools, even in the South, establishing pride centers and felt disappointed at the length of time it took UTK to establish a similar group. “As our peer institutions like Georgia and Florida were developing robust and well-staffed pride centers — it’s part of what a university provides these days, in terms of student services. The Pride Center has an especially important
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role to play in the mental health and well-being of UT students,” Anderson said. Anderson and a group of professors began to fill the hole the law made. The “guerrilla group,” as Anderson described it, has offered their time and resources to the Pride Center in whatever capacity needed. “We were really just a collective of professors who were eating our lunch together this summer, trying to figure out how we could help,” Anderson said. Despite the lack of funding and the social climate of the area, which may be viewed as unfriendly after Public Chapter 1066 passed to LGBTQ individuals, the Pride Center continues to hold events, and people continue to attend. The center is open for anyone to stop by between 9 a.m. — 9 p.m., Monday through Thursday and 9 a.m. — 6 p.m. on Friday.
Monday, August 22, 2016