Orlando – Nearly 100 University of Central Florida (UCF) students gathered near the Reflecting Pond on campus for UCF’s first-ever Pride event.
Students manning booths representing various activist groups mingled with attendees while a DJ spun dance hits and other students danced while clad in rainbow flags and painted colorful pro-LGBT signs.
The Oct. 9 event was put on by the UCF’s College Democrats group. Sophomore Thomas Morrison, College Democrats secretary, said they wanted to bring “something new” to UCF, and the event has been in the works since the summer.
“We’re an inclusive group,” Morrison said. “I’m a member of the [LGBT] community, and I’m excited by all the people here.”
The students rallied until about 1:30 p.m., then marched to the student union, circling back to the pond area, “shouting chants and rallying the campus for equality,” Morrison said. “It’s not just a celebratory event; it’s an educational event.”
Before the march, they heard some student speakers.
Senior Jahfre Colbert, the Student Government Association (SGA) Diversity Initiative Specialist, talked about the new Pride Commons, an LGBT-specific student center on campus, and the Pride Coalition officially becoming a UCF agency.
“We do have a right to be proud and that’s awesome,” he said. “But there’s still a lot of work to be done.”
Junior Angelica Gonzalez, president of EQUAL, a student equality group, agreed with Colbert.
“We’ve got the path laid out,” she said. “All that matters is we keep on track in creating wonderful things for this campus.”
Black Thompson, president of Delta Lambda Phi, said it was the first pride event he’s ever attended.
He encouraged the freshmen in attendance to “keep up that momentum. The sky’s the limit as far as progress we can make.”
Morrison said they’ll try to hold the event annually, and make it bigger and better every year.
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