Pride week at Emporia State kicked off on Monday and will last through Saturday, April 30.
There are an array of events such as an educational forum about pronouns, a drag show and an Emporia State tradition, Pride Prom.
“Pride month is actually in June and so since most students are not here in June, April is when we celebrate pride and we can do community things in June during actual pride month,” said Rochelle Rowley, PRIDE faculty adviser and associate professor. “That’s the purpose of pride week, so we can celebrate together before pride month happens. The significance is that it celebrates people in the LGBTQ+ community, their differences but also their similarities and is for anybody.”
This will be the first time that the People Respecting Individuality and Diversity in Education (PRIDE) organization will be hosting in-person celebrations since pride week in 2019, according to Rowley.
“It’s important so that students know that they are welcomed here and that they are a part of ESU and that we can make them feel included,” said Magda Escalante, graduate student and PRIDE president. “The worst feeling someone can have is to not feel included at the university they will be at for four years.”
Each pride week event is impactful in different ways, some meant to be educational and others to be fun. Pride Prom specifically holds a deeper meaning for those involved, according to Rowley.
“Things are changing a little bit but a lot of students either did not have a positive experience with their own high school prom or they just didn’t go or they weren’t allowed to go,” Rowley said. “The allowed to go is a little bit more historical, but that positive experience is something that it tends to lack.”
The drag show this Friday will be hosted by Mark Key whose performance name is Luna Steelheart. Steelheart also performed at the Pride Parade last June here in Emporia.
Steelheart expressed an excitement to get the opportunity to host this weeks drag show and said that all are more than welcome to come talk to them or take pictures before or after the show.
“I am very excited to see everybody and I’m excited to see the show,” Steelheart said. “It’s just, my heart is already filled with joy and my stomach is filled with butterflies.”
Steelheart will have officially done drag for the last five years this coming June and said that they had a strong fondness of the performative art they’ve participated in over the years.
“As the Boulet Brothers say of their show Dragula, drag is art and art is subjective,” said Steelheart. “So it’s individual to each person and is a beautification of each individual’s art form. That’s the beauty of drag and it’s a means to celebrate gender and to be expressive and just to have fun. Anybody who wants to be part of that is more than welcome.”
