Pride at the University
At ³ÉÈË´óƬ, we celebrate Pride year-round
Pride Month was established in honor of the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in New York. To start the new academic year and provide more opportunities for community members to join in the celebrations, Positive Space is hosting events throughout the fall term, as well as during the month of June. All university community members are invited to participate in these events which aim to honor, celebrate and affirm the dignity, equality and increased visibility of individuals with diverse sexual orientations, gender identities and gender expressions.
Upcoming events
Fall Pride, organized by the Positive Space Faculty and Staff Network, kicks off the academic year by celebrating the 2SLGBTQ+ community at ³ÉÈË´óƬ. Students, faculty and staff are invited to participate in events that honour, celebrate and affirm the dignity, equality and visibility of 2SLGBTQ+ people.
Past events
Thank you to all of the community members who participated in the 2024 Positive Space Pride Kick-off and Mixer. This was our largest event yet, with over 170 attendees. A special thank you goes out to the OVPECI for sponsoring us and to the Urban Farm for hosting us again.
Subsequent Pride programing starting in June and going through November included:
- Improving 2SLGBTQIA+ Health Using Community Based Research, hosted with the HOPE Centre
- Author Talk: Chrysalis with Anuja Varghese, hosted with Alumni Relations
Thank you to all the community members who participated in the 2023 Positive Space Pride Kick Off. Positive Space was delighted to collaborate with the Urban Farm, which graciously hosted us in their extraordinary rooftop garden. This garden serves as the home for the Indigenous Foodways and Black Food Sovereignty projects.
Subsequent Pride programming from June through November included:
- Our Pride Author Talk with Sita Balani
- An OVPECI sponsored social at Glad Day Bookshop
- The Fall Term kick-off with Alumni office’s Out at Constantine event.
- The Queer and Trans in the Classroom event
- Out in Print: Queer Authors Night
- Movie night with the Black Faculty and Staff Community Network
- Pink Libraries Tours
- 2SLGBTQ+ SRC Showcase
- Positive Skate at the Mattamy
- Pride Mixer and Newcomer Panel
- Queeraoke
- A Night of Laughs with Elvira Kurt
- Trans and Non-binary inclusion in sport speaker and panel event
- Protecting Trans Youth: A Panel Discussion
- Pride Game puck drop with Athletics and Recreation
- Our Trans Day of Remembrance keynote event
In 2022, Positive Space was back in person with our Pride Month Kickoff launching a month of celebration and community events at the university, which included film nights, quad lunches, a book talk featuring alumni and author, Alon Ozery’s (HTM ‘96) memoir, Even the Sidewalk Could Tell: How I Came Out to My Wife, My Three Children, and the World, a private tour of the Image Centre's "From Here to Eternity. Sunil Gupta, A Retrospective" exhibition, and their "Mauvais Genre/Under Cover: A Secret History" exhibition. Positive Space closed the 2022 Pride season with our first in-person social event in two years, Together Again, at Glad Day.
In 2021, Positive Space kicked-off Pride with a virtual get together, and a welcome from senior leaders. Subsequent online events includes a webinar by University Advancement on the impact of 2SLGBTQ+ fundraising, Drag Story time, community-led self-reflection events, film screenings, podcasts clubs, a panel on 2SLGBTQ+ immigrants in the workplace, a writing workshop, a virtual games night, and a community check-in.
Positive Space at the university
The Positive Space Faculty and Staff Network is a volunteer-based network at the university, comprised of staff and faculty of diverse sexual orientations, gender identities and gender expressions, committed to creating and maintaining a safe, welcoming and inclusive environment.
Questions?
For additional information about Pride at the university or to get involved, contact positivespace@torontomu.ca.