Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

The Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion collaborates with students, faculty, administrators, staff, and members of our surrounding community to promote and implement the University of Wisconsin-Parkside's mission, strategic diversity, and inclusion initiatives.

June is PRIDE MONTH!

Pride Month is dedicated to the uplifting of LGBTQ voices, celebration of LGBTQ culture and the support of LGBTQ rights. Throughout the month of June, nationwide, there have traditionally been parades, protests, memorials, drag performances, and live theater.

The celebrations and memorials take place in June to coincide with the catalyst of the Gay Liberation Movement known as the Stonewall Uprising. On June 28, 1969, police raided a popular gay bar in N.Y.C.'s West Village, The Stonewall Inn, which was commonplace for the time, except in this instance, the patrons of the bar fought back, starting the Stonewall Riots, which went on for days.

Marsha P. Johnson is often credited with throwing the first punch at the Stonewall Inn. She was a Black trans woman celebrating her 25th birthday at the time of the riots and a tour de force in the gay community. This year is the 51st anniversary of the first Pride parade, which happened in 1970, one year after the uprising.

The rainbow flag — created by artist Gilbert Baker in 1978 — is used as a symbol of LGBTQ pride, and each color of the flag has its own meaning. In the widely known six-color flag, red is symbolic of life, orange is symbolic of spirit, yellow is sunshine, green is nature, blue represents harmony and purple is spirit. In the original eight-color flag, hot pink was included to represent sex and turquoise to represent magic/art.

There have been many variations on the flag. In 2021, the flag was altered in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter protests, including black to represent diversity, brown to represent inclusivity and light blue and pink, the colors of the trans pride flag.

The University of Wisconsin-Parkside is an ally and advocate of the LGBTQ+ community and its equal protection under the law.

This year we will be participating in Pride Month activities with Carthage College and Gateway Technical College, as they have extended an invitation for our campus members to join in their activities. In the month of October students, faculty, and staff from all three institutions will be collaborating to celebrate National Coming Out Month, so be on the look out for more information to come!

Local Pride Month Celebrations and Activities

https://racinecountyeye.com/pride-in-southeastern-wisconsin/

Their Stories: Virtual Panel Discussion Join LGBTQ+ members of our community for a conversation about their challenges and experiences.
Tuesday, June 29 | 6-7:30 pm | Virtual event via Zoom
Register for Gateway events and find more details at gtc.edu/D365

Gateway Pride Month Parable: Story Time with a Drag Queen Join drag queen Vivian Storm for an hour of storytelling fun!
Thursday, June 10 | 6 pm | Virtual event via Zoom

Carthage College Pride Parade
Friday, June 25 | 12-1 pm

Student Climate Survey

Thank you all for your support in getting the word out and encouraging students to participate in the Student Climate Survey and a big thank you to all the students who made their voices heard by participating.

We anticipate receiving data results at the end of June and the data will be communicated to our campus members soon afterwards and used to guide future EDI efforts within our institution.

Moon Shot for Equity Mindedness Trainings

We are excited to announce that the equity trainings launched on May 17^th with Dr. Shaun Harper presenting on the topic of: Leading Productive Conversations About Race!

Parkside was well represented with 84 faculty and staff members who participated in the training. The training sessions will take place on a monthly basis.

The next session will be held on Wednesday, June 16th from 11 am-2 pm and the topic is: Confronting Explicit Acts of Racism and Racial Violence on Campus.

We have a limited number of spots available so if you have received a meeting invitation, please be sure to reply to reserve your spot. UWP faculty and staff only

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