In the face of challenges, let’s keep working and celebrating this Pride Month

Every June, Pride Month brings a special sense of joy. It’s a time to reflect on the progress that LGBTQIA+ people and communities in our nation have made in the decades since the Stonewall Uprising, a journey that began with courageous defiance and has evolved to include unabashed celebration. But the need for courage and vigilance has never disappeared, and now, we are faced with the urgent need to defend that hard-won progress, even as we continue the work of advancing equity and inclusion for all LGBTQIA+ people.

Across our nation, laws are being proposed, passed and enforced that jeopardize the health, safety and well-being of LGBTQIA+ people and families. These legislative efforts are an affront to our values, a denial of civil rights, and contradict decades of research showing that individuals, communities and institutions are all healthier when LGBTQIA+ people are free to live authentically.

Here at the UW, we are committed to ensuring that everyone is welcomed as their authentic self, including listening to our community and updating our policies to enable students and graduates to use their preferred names on official documents. The Q Center serves as a hub for community and resources for students, faculty, staff, and alumni of all sexual and gender orientations, identities, and expressions, and all three of our campuses offer access to gender neutral restrooms. UW researchers across many disciplines are contributing to our understanding of how gender, sexuality and identity are woven into our society and lives. From evolving language to be more inclusive, to exploring how LGBTQIA+ adults are experience aging, to the acts advocacy and allyship that take place throughout our community, the UW is home to countless efforts to make the world a more equitable and welcoming place.

Although I am deeply dismayed by the concerted efforts to turn back the clock on LGBTQIA+ rights and acceptance, I am proud to be part of a community that will never stop working to protect those rights and advance the vision of a diverse, equitable, welcoming world on our campus, in our state and across the nation and world. And I will continue to take joy in Pride Month as a celebration of all that we have accomplished so far and in anticipation of the future we will continue building together.