Community members kicked-off Pride month by raising the Pride flag in the main quad on June 3.

California and U.S. flags are replaced with the progress Pride flag, an updated version of the Pride flag, and the transgender Pride flag.

The event was organized by the Pride Center and Office of Equity.

Attendees such as UndocuSTEM Program Coordinator Shaila Ramos-Garcia recited poetry at the event.

“It’s my first Pride as a new mom,” Ramos-Garcia said. “This is my home. This is my community.”

The event included performances by Ensamble Folclorico Colibri, an LGBTQ+ Mexican dance group and Lawrence Kelly who performed under a drag persona.

“I just want to spread queer joy,” Kelly said. “By leading by example. People can be as expressive and as out as they want to be.”

The ceremony comes amid a downward trend of support for LGBTQ+ issues that began in 2021 according to Gallop polling.

“The percentage viewing gay or lesbian relations as morally acceptable, 62%, has not been lower since 2016,” Gallup reported. “The share of Americans who consider changing one’s gender morally acceptable has declined eight points over the past five years, to 38%.”

Attendees included interim President David Wain Coon and Vice President of Instruction Ram Subramaniam.

“To be here is to be free and to be unapologetically you,” Mia Miranda, 20, political science major said. “I am so grateful to be in a space where there’s so much love and possibility, and positivity just to be proud of who you are.”