University of Southern California: Honoring LGBTQ+ achievements: USC kicks off Pride Month with virtual event

o kick off Pride Month, USC is hosting a virtual celebration June 1 to honor the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of the LGBTQ+ community.

The Pride Month Celebration will start at noon Tuesday and feature a variety of speakers with diverse perspectives, sharing personal stories of inspirational LGBTQ+ people in their lives or field of work.

USC Pride Month

Speakers include USC President Carol L. Folt; Richard Zaldivar, founder and executive director of The Wall Las Memorias Project; Karen Tongson, chair of the Gender and Sexuality Studies Department at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences; Tom Henkenius, president of the USC Lambda LGBT Alumni Association; and Megan van der Toorn, student equity and inclusion programs manager for USC’s LGBTQ+ Student Center.

Last year featured several major changes to LGBTQ+ institutions at the university, including the renaming of USC’s LGBT resource to the LGBTQ+ Student Center on Oct. 11 — National Coming Out Day — and Edwin Bodney being named USC Student Health’s new LGBTQ+ campus advocate and educator.

Those who wish to attend the virtual event can visit this link. A full list of USC Pride Month events can be found on the university’s event calendar.