SMU community shows Pride love at Paint Your Pride event

Group of people standing in Saint Mary's University Quad in front of colourful chalk rainbow and chalk sign reading Paint Your Pride 2023

Pride flags depicting different 2SLGBTQIA+ identities are strung between two trees.

Group of people visiting Pride information table.

Kyle Cook, Indigenous Student Advisor, drawing two-spirit pride flag in chalk.

Group of people visiting Pride activity tables in Saint Marys Quad.

Saint Mary's Quad featuring several Pride activity tables along edge of grass and colorful chalk drawings on cobblestone path.

Bookstore staff member stands in front of Pride apparel table.

Hanna Sakaki, Alumni Assistant, smiles while making a chalk drawing of different coloured hearts on the Quad pathway.

Ken Cornell, SMU student, sits on the Quad pathway next to a chalk heart drawn in genderfluid pride colours.

Two students draw a Spiderman image in chalk.

On June 20, Student Affairs and Services (SAAS) hosted a Paint Your Pride event to kick off the 2023 Pride Season at SMU.

Taking place in the Quad, Paint Your Pride brought students, faculty, staff and even Halifax locals together to celebrate Pride Month and create a beautiful rainbow chalk mural. The event also boasted activities including a make-your-own Pride pin station, lawn games, cake and popcorn treats, an info table breaking down the various 2SLGBTQIA+ pride flags and highlighting community resources, and a pop-up Pride merch table from the SMU Bookstore.

During the event, Welcome Activities Coordinator, Toky Tajwar and Student Life Coordinator, Liv Brennan asked attendees what Pride means to them. Dee Dooley, Sexual Violence Advisor described Pride as “community and liberation” while Peer Success coach, Michael Rumsby felt Pride to mean “loving and accepting everybody for who they are.” Members of the 2SLGBTQI+ community and allies joined together with resounding messages of love, acceptance and community resounding in the beautiful artwork created.

Paint Your Pride was just one of several Pride initiatives that SMU is involved in this year. In addition to several Pride events, SAAS has undertaken a project to develop a 2SLGBTQIA+ Community webpage to be launched this summer. The initiative, prominently developed by members of the queer community, will create a digital hub of pan-campus resources, groups, committees and societies, as well as news and upcoming events.

Related:

• Celebrating Pride at Saint Mary’s University.

• Student perspective: experiencing Pride at Saint Mary’s

• Student experience: safe space and gay allyship at SMU