Anchored by a drag show featuring Alyssa Edwards of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” and a keynote address by Laverne Cox of “Orange Is the New Black” fame, this year’s Pride Week lineup mixes new events with older offerings. Programming will continue through Saturday evening, concluding with an awards ceremony for leaders in the LGBTQ community.
Additions to this year’s Pride Week schedule include tours of Triangle House — the College’s new affinity house for LGBTQ students and allies — an HIV screening clinic and a discussion on queerness in the Caribbean, among others.
Pride Week co-chair Francis Slaughter ’16 said the week aims to celebrate those who fought for “a greater ease of being LGBT-identified” at Dartmouth and in the U.S.
“Until everyone feels comfortable enough on campus to come out or feel their identity is accepted, Pride Week will be a part of Dartmouth,” Slaughter said.
The bulk of programming begins today with the Triangle House tours and the drag show featuring Edwards, who will perform among members of various fraternities, drag show director Lizzy Southwell ’15 said.
Describing Edwards as “kinda cooky, kinda crazy, a dancer above all things and very funny,” Southwell said she looks forward to the performer’s energy and personality.
“Even if people don’t know that much about drag, I think people will be surprised by how they relate to it and how much they like it,” Southwell said.
While the drag show is meant to be a lighthearted event, Tuesday’s Transform fashion show, which will feature performances by Sheba and Ujima, is one of the more serious and diverse performances this week, Slaughter said. Transform is a gender-bending, gender-fluid fashion show during which people walk across the stage portraying a gender identity with which they do not usually identify.
“While one can see people physically, one can also understand people’s feelings for why they chose to not only participate in Transform, but why they choose to dress a certain way for the show,” co-chair Isana Skeete ’14 said.
On Wednesday, Pride Week will sponsor HIV screenings by Dick’s House. The test is completed using simply a cotton swab inside the cheek, and Slaughter said event organizers hope to show that the test is not as intimidating as one might assume.
Organizers will also hold a global awareness booth on Wednesday in the Paganucci Lounge to promote greater awareness about HIV testing and the prevalence of HIV worldwide, Slaughter said. Though conversations about HIV and AIDS can be uncommon among students, the HIV rate is growing among young gay men, especially those in minority communities, he said.
Slaughter said the HIV-centered events boost awareness and solidarity.
That evening, Pride Week organizers will join with the Dartmouth Caribbean Connection to discuss homophobia and queerness in the Caribbean, emphasizing the pervasiveness of homophobia rooted in machismo culture.
Following the discussion, OUTspoken will provide students with a forum in which to share their coming out stories and experiences. Unlike in past years, the event will allow audience members to share their experiences in addition to the pre-selected panel, Skeete said.
An asexuality panel on Thursday is intended to raise awareness about a sexual identity that is not often discussed, Skeete said.
On Friday, Pride Week will culminate with a keynote address by Cox, who has visited about 40 colleges since the fall, when organizers first reached out to her about the keynote address, Slaughter said. Cox will focus on the intersectionality of transgender identity and race, issues infrequently discussed on campus, Slaughter said.
“When we talk about Pride Week a lot of the time we focus on white gay men, and bringing Laverne Cox in flips that on its head,” Slaughter said.
Between 20 and 30 students, faculty and staff organized Pride Week, Slaughter said.
Every committee member, he said, came in with different points of view and issues they hoped to highlight during the week.
“Personally, I have had an incredibly easy experience being an out gay man on this campus,” Slaughter said. “I acknowledge that this is not the case for all LGBTQIA members on campus. In my mind that is the purpose of pride — to create an event where all identities can be celebrated.”
Skeete is a member of The Dartmouth staff.
