Pride month calls for community resources to “not be silent” – Le Baromètre Quotidien

This month’s edition theme kicks off with a special section focused on Pride: It’s Pride Month.

I had originally planned to write about the importance of transitions: you’ve graduated, maybe you’re moving to a new city for an exciting new job, and how important it can be to know what resources are available in your community local. Where is the local pharmacy? Who do you contact for sexual health support?

Instead, I was tasked with writing about pride, which is more fitting for someone writing about sexual health and wellness.

However, before diving into the specific history of Pride, I want to draw attention to why Pride was created, which was after the Stonewall Uprising. It was started to collect Why is pride necessary? Because bias, hate crimes and threats still happen today.

Here is my personal experience.

Recently, I was targeted with hate based on my work as an Oregon State University Sexpert and my sexual orientation. First, I must acknowledge my privilege as a white, cisgender woman who felt comfortable immediately contacting campus law enforcement.

I was impressed by their support, empathy and compassion.

Additionally, they brought in someone from OSU Assist to support me and, more importantly, a therapy dog, Cedar. OSU Assist is a multidisciplinary support team that provides mobile crisis response and compassionately comprehensive services to individuals facing extenuating circumstances or experiencing other forms of distress.

I was vaguely familiar with their work from a workshop I attended on student mental health. I never imagined that I would need their services.

This incident left me feeling angry, disappointed, vulnerable and afraid. I now know where all the emergency phones are located in every classroom I teach. I keep my office door locked while I’m there. I stopped wearing headphones and looking at my phone while walking outside. I am constantly on alert.

But above all, I am angry.

Now let’s dive into the history of Pride and the significance of the events that took place at the Stonewall Inn in 1969.

In 1969, the New York State Liquor Authority imposed harsh penalties on any establishment that served alcohol to anyone LGBTQ+ (or even suspected of being part of the community).

The argument was that “homosexuals were disordered.” On June 28, 1969, law enforcement entered the Stonewall Inn (a popular New York gay bar) with an arrest warrant, aggressively assaulted and arrested 13 people, including staff and patrons.

New York State had a gender-appropriate clothing law and officers took it upon themselves to check the genitals of some “suspects.”

This wasn’t the first bar raid, nor the first time a raid had taken place, but it was the first time media coverage highlighted members of the LGBTQ+ community fighting back.

Exhausted by years of discrimination and harassment by law enforcement, members of the LGBTQ+ community and their allies, led by young trans women of color, protested for six days and the protests became known as the name Stonewall uprising.

This uprising was the culmination of many years of LGBTQ+ activism. For reference, same-sex relationships weren’t even legalized in New York until 1980.

The first Pride March in New York took place on the first anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising. And now we celebrate and honor June as Pride Month because of the activism that took place in 1969. And we can’t stop standing up and we can’t stay silent.

Like what happened to me, here’s what you can do if you’re a survivor of a bias incident or crime as a member of the LGBTQ+ community at OSU and Oregon State .

Homophobic hate crimes have a significant impact on LGBTQ+ communities. The very real fear of being targeted for those we love forces people to hide their identities.

But it is important to resist hatred. Pride celebrates the fact that we are not alone and will not be intimidated. It is a collective celebration, honoring and bringing together our resilience.

• The Pride Center
  • https://dce.oregonstate.edu/pc
  • OSU’s Pride Center aims to support people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex and asexual, and their allies. With outreach programs and events, the Pride Center is here to support people on campus and online during their time at OSU. “The Pride Center is a safe space for all members of our community to explore aspects of sexual orientation and gender identity in an open, non-judgmental atmosphere,” their website states.
• General resources for LGBTQ+ students:
• Albany Pride Festival:
• Philomath Pride Event:

This is important work. This is why we need pride. This is why we need cultural centers on campus. This is also why we need programs like OSU Assist. That’s why Oregon needs our Bias Response Hotline, to help us confront these bias crimes together.

This is why we must support each other and not remain silent.

So, I leave you with this quote from Martin Luther King Jr.

“Darkness cannot lead darkness; Light can do that. Hatred cannot drive out hatred; Love can do that.