Pride week at Michigan Tech kicked off this Monday, Oct. 10. Keweenaw Pride has been hosting several events throughout the week, which will culminate with the 23rd annual drag show on Saturday, Oct. 15.
On Monday, Keweenaw Pride (KP) hosted a presentation on how to be a good ally, which will be followed by an ally pledge on Friday, Oct. 14. KP Co-President and fourth-year Biomedical Engineering student Jordan Zais said that while “the presentation didn’t have a super high attendance,” there was a “really good discussion with the people who came.”
Tuesday, Oct. 11 held celebrations for National Coming Out Day at the CDI lawn, where participants could walk through a rainbow door. “National Coming Out Day went super well,” said Zais, “a bunch of people who came and signed the door and hung out.”
According to Zais, Wednesday night’s Drag Karaoke event was successful as well. “We had pretty good turnout and people seemed to have fun. The Dean showed up for some of it which was pretty cool!”
Zais named Thursday’s Aiden’s Rocks Rock Painting as an event they are looking forward to.“It’s just kind of a leisurely thing that you can do on your way to class,” said Zais.
The 23rd Annual Drag Show will feature six professional drag performers. The event will be held in the SDC wood gym. Doors open at 7 p.m., and the show starts at 8 p.m.. Tickets are free to MTU students with photo ID and are available for $3 for non-MTU college students and $7 for the general public. Tickets can be purchased at the door or online.
Zais identifies KP as an organization that can help LGBT+ students feel less alone. “I think that there are a lot of times on campus where it can feel like there’s no one like you and like you are the only queer person on this campus. And I think that KP provides a safe place for people to come and be themselves,” said Zais.
The organization has been planning the events since the summer. “We started probably in July this year. And that was mostly just for the drag show,” said Zais. “But then as we got closer and closer to the school year, we started planning Pride Week pride events.”
KP’s activities are not limited to Pride Week. “We’re kind of a combination of like a social and activism org.,” said Zais. “Some weeks are going to be a more social type thing, and then some are going to be more activism focused.”
Other resources for students include the Center for Diversity and Inclusion, “they have staff there that you can talk to and they’re great, but they also have resources in terms of the queer community, but then also other minority communities,” Zais said.
Zais encouraged interested students to attend a KP meeting or to join their Discord. KP meets every other Thursday from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. in Wadsworth Hall G42.