Pitt Pride Week kicks off

It’s hard to avoid innuendo when it hits you in the face. Some of the participants in… It’s hard to avoid innuendo when it hits you in the face. Some of the participants in Rainbow Alliance’s Pride Week dodgeball game last night couldn’t resist.

“There are so many different colored balls in here right now,” a competitor jokingly said.

Rainbow Alliance, Pitt’s student advocacy group for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people, kicked off Pride Week with the dodgeball game but will hold more educational events this week as part of Pride Week.

Stephen Kao, Rainbow Alliance office administrator, said Pride Week is a good follow-up to the National Coming Out Week, which Rainbow Alliance participated in last October.

“Whereas Coming Out Week was a way to support those stressed about coming out, Pride Week is a celebration of that choice,” Kao said.

This enthusiasm was evident as students who had been eliminated continued to try to catch stray dodgeballs from the sideline for another attempt at the game.

The week’s events lead up to one of the most anticipated shows of the year, Pride Week’s annual Drag Show. The Drag Show will feature singing, dancing and fierce costumes.

The drag show will be held at 8:45 p.m. Thursday in the William Pitt Union’s Assembly Room. All donations collected at this free event will benefit the Pittsburgh AIDS Task Force, an organization that helps treat and prevent AIDS in Pittsburgh. Kao said Rainbow Alliance raised $1,300 last year and hopes to raise about $1,500 this year from Drag Show donations.

Jarrett Eakins, the communications assistant for Rainbow Alliance, said the group wants to raise as much money as it can to benefit the Pittsburgh AIDS Task Force and encourages students to donate as much as they can.

“It’s a free event. Come out and tip the drag queens,” Eakins said.

Though the Drag Show will take place Thursday night, for the first time, Rainbow Alliance will hold a Drag Race during the day. At the race, students will race in drag around campus.

Taiji Nelson took a break from dodgeball to relay his expectations for the Drag Race. He said he would be participating as his drag alter ego, Suki Sodoku, and is not worried about running around in full drag.

“I feel running in high heels is encoded in the gay gene,” he said jokingly.

The Drag Race will have two heats, one starting at 11:50 a.m. and the other at noon. The participants will race from the WPU into Towers lobby before ending back at the start line in the Union.

James Weaver, the president of Rainbow Alliance, said Pride Week is important to the LGBT community’s presence on campus.

“It helps get Rainbow Alliance’s name out there and lets students know there is a community on campus that supports them, especially freshmen. It’s also a good way to raise money for charitable organizations,” Weaver said.

Pitt sophomore Aron Stone said he feels Pride Week combats many people’s preconceived notions about the LGBT community.

“Some people have no idea who gay people are, or they define them through sterotypes,” Stone said. “Pride Week shows them we’re normal people just like they are.”

Stone plans to attend the Drag Show on Thursday and hopes it’s as fun as the ones he attended in New York last summer.

Elizabeth Birch, president and director of the nation’s largest LGBT advocacy organization, the Human Rights Campaign, will speak about issues regarding the LGBT Community today at 8:45 p.m. in room G23 of the Public Health Building.

Adam Dobson, Rainbow Alliance’s political action chair, said Birch has been an inspiration to the LGBT community, working to improve human rights.

Tomorrow, Rainbow Alliance will hold the event “Proud to be an Ally” in Room 5405 of Posvar Hall. Dobson said allies are straight people who are friends of the LGBT community.

“The LGBT community would not be what it is to today without the help of straight people,” Dobson said. “‘Proud to be an Ally’ is an open event where gays will bring a straight friend. The friends will talk about why it’s important to be an ally, and we’ll talk about how they’ve helped us.”

Pitt staff members can join the Allies Network by attending a lecture and learning to interact sensitively with LGBT people. Members of the Allies Network, which was established three years ago, display a rainbow-colored Cathedral sign.

Dylan Drobish, who self-identifies as a transgendered person, found this system helpful when he was coming out..

“It was helpful to know which professors would be more accepting through the sign on their door,” Drobish said.

Dobson said Rainbow Alliance will put anyone who attends any of this week’s pride events, with the exception of the Drag Show, on HEAT Nightclub’s guestlist for Friday night. The LGBT-friendly nightclub is located in the Strip District.

People 18 and older will gain admission for $5 instead of $10, and attendees who are 21 or older will pay $3 instead of $5. People will not be put on the guestlist if they attend only the Drag Show because the show usually has a large turnout and helps promote the rest of the week’s events, Dobson said.