Center for Campus Life, Gender and Sexuality Resources and Student Government Association hosted the second Pridefest Thursday on The Quad. On campus and off-campus organizations lined The Quad, including Housing and Residence Life, Disability Resources, Sexuality and Gender Alliance, Vanderburgh County Health Department, Matthew 25 Aids Services, and others.
Organizations were giving out free Pridefest merch, including button pins, condoms, informative flyers, stickers, T-shirts, pride flags and more. They provided a station to tie-dye pride shirts, a mobile rage room and “drunk” soccer, where students put on a pair of drunk goggles to imitate the visual effects of alcohol. Along with these activities, they also provided free confidential HIV testing for attendees.
Justin Samson, representative of Vanderburgh County Health Department, said they wanted to bring awareness regarding sexual health.
“We are all about making sure our community is safe, which is why we’re handing out free condoms, free dental dams, free female condoms, and we just want to bring awareness,” Samson said.
The Vanderburgh County Health Department booth encouraged students to practice safe sex and destigmatize condoms.
Samson said they want to destigmatize STIs, getting tested and being treated.
“STIs are looked down upon, and we want to destigmatize STIs,” Samson said. “One in every two people in their lifetime is going to have an STI either chlamydia, gonorrhea or anything like that.”
Students were excited to have this event on campus, especially regarding the inclusion of other students.
Isabella Cano, freshman art major, said it makes her happy to know USI is inclusive and welcoming to students part of the LGBTQ+ community.
Cano said without events like these, students would not have the resources or feel welcome on campus.
“I think if we didn’t have events like this, people wouldn’t have a place to feel welcome,” Cano said. “They wouldn’t obtain as much information.”
One of the organizations at the event was the Sexuality and Gender Alliance. It was handing out lanyards, offering details on upcoming events and recruiting people to join SAGA.
Nova Noel, freshman criminal justice and psychology major, represented the SAGA table and was there to answer any questions attendees had.
“We just resemble the sexualities and genders and the different genders of the LGBTQ community,” Noel said. “We’re just about a club that loves to meet up and hang out and talk about things.”
Noel said they hope Pridefest gets new people to join SAGA.
Madi Martin, senior psychology major, said Pridefest allows students to know more about the queer community.
“It’s an incredible opportunity for queer students and straight students to get to know what the queer community is like and to really experience a sense of welcomeness here on campus,” Martin said.
“Any kind of involvement for minority students, whether it be queer students or students of color,” Martin said. “I think it is important for any minority student to feel welcome here on campus.”