The Return of the Big Queer Gathering

On Thursday, April 3, Persons Rallying for an Inclusive, Diverse Elmhurst, or PRIDE, hosted their first signature event on campus, The Big Queer Gathering, in A.C. Buehler Library in the evening from 5:30 p.m. until about 9:00 p.m..

The event, primarily designed for high-school outreach, was also open to all students on campus and featured various speakers and presentations from Elmhurst University staff, including Executive Director of Belonging and Inclusion Alexander Blumenberg. It concluded with a “Dancing with Empowerment” movement workshop led by associate professor and Chair of the Department of Theatre and Dance, Amy Lyn McDonald.

Students from area schools including Carl Sandburg High School and York High School attended the event. Besides students affiliated directly with PRIDE, there was a small presence from EU students as well.

Blake Macias Martinez, the Co-President of PRIDE, was the primary student planner of the event. They helped organize the event, and PRIDE as an organization, with the hope of reviving the presence of what was once the Queer-Straight Alliance on campus.

“[QSA] used to exist. It went on hiatus after COVID. There were some events here and there but there wasn’t an actual club,” said Macias Martinez.

Macias Martinez expressed that the culture of acceptance is the reason why they chose to attend EU to begin with.

“I loved that I found this space where I could be myself. It helped me be more confident in my skin.”

Also in attendance at the event were local organizations Youth Outlook and Elmhurst Pride Collective in addition to representatives from Endeavor Health and DayRise Wellness.

“We saw a lack of mental health resources for LGBTQIA+ individuals. We wanted to have a lot of resources for students especially because things feel heavy and hard,” said Macias Martinez.

Tim Ahlberg, Associate Director of Affinity Populations and a staff member in the Office of Admissions helped with organizing the event and securing some funding from the University. He believes similarly on the importance of having outreach on campus and in the local community.

“This is a beginning of offering a way we show belonging to everybody in the LGBTQ+ community here on campus. I see a lot of fear; I see a lot of concern with the changing climate. This is a way to reconcile with the changes nationally.”

Ahlberg and Macias Martinez both shared their struggles with organizing the event, chiefly being organizing large groups of people.

Ahlberg noted, “Spring break kind of hampered things. We had a pretty old GSA list of internal high school representatives.”

Macias Martinez added to this saying it was a challenge getting responses from external organizations and high schools.

“We reached out to so many different organizations. We understand it’s very hectic and very busy.”

Both are excited and looking forward to future PRIDE events on campus, though. Ahlberg wants PRIDE to fill the same niche that the QSA did.

“Back then we had a different student organization called QSA which ran [these events]… Hopefully, it will be a return of a regular thing we do annually.”

The final session of the evening was “Moving with Empowerment,” led by associate professor and Chair of the Department of Theatre and Dance, Amy Lyn McDonald.

“I was asked by our friend Blake to do something fun for this evening… I said, ‘what do you think about a dancing with empowerment thing?’” said McDonald.

Her session guided attendees through quick and basic stretching and strutting, loosely emulating the styles of drag and runway models. During the session, McDonald noted each repetition and movement style was quick specifically so attendees would not have time to judge themselves or think too hard about what they’re doing

“I don’t want you to self-censor,” said McDonald during the session.

Speaking with her afterward, McDonald was very happy about how the session, and the event at large, went.

“The feedback that I got from the friends afterwards was exactly what I wanted to hear. Getting friends to go from a place where they’re maybe a little nervous and intimidated… by the end they were all buying into it and here for the experience. They weren’t being evaluated or judged.”

She noted, “I wanted people feeling comfortable moving in their own skin.”

Though the event had a relatively small attendance, everybody The Leader spoke with was happy to have made a positive impact on even one individual.

McDonald notes, “If only one good thing happened for one person, it’s all worth it.”

PRIDE’s next community event will be a Drag Show on April 23 in the Founders Lounge, with a portion of ticket proceeds going to LGBTQ+ charities.