Celebrating LGBTQ+ Pride Month

Happy Pride Month, Berklee community,

The LGBTQ+ liberation movement goes far beyond Pride Month each June. From the Stonewall Riots of 1969 to current struggles to maintain and advance the rights of LGBTQ+ communities, this movement continues to grow and achieve significant victories. But even with these advances, we are still far from the moment where all members of underrepresented communities based on orientations and expressions of one’s sex, gender, and sexuality feel safe, are treated with dignity and respect, and experience the full range of human rights. 

Since 2018, approximately 670 anti-LGBTQIA+ bills have been filed, with more than 200 of these bills occurring in 2022. Let’s honor LGBTQ+ Pride Month as artists and educators by supporting the LGBTQ+ community and all that are engaged in working for equal rights. At Berklee and beyond, it’s our collective responsibility to create spaces where all people feel safe, welcomed, and empowered to be their fullest selves.

Beyond our collective responsibility, we also want to acknowledge the commitment and resilience of Berklee’s LGBTQ+ community, whose continued advocacy has helped to promote protocols and practices to make Berklee more inclusive. Some of the most recent advances include the updating of the process for students to change their names, gender identity, and pronouns, professional development offerings to support inclusive practices regarding gender identity and expression, and last month’s Lavender celebration honoring LGBTQ+ graduating students. 

During Pride Month, Berklee’s Diversity and Inclusion Office will host an online Pride trivia event and gathering on June 15 at 2:00 p.m. The Berklee LGBTQ+ community and allies are invited to learn more about LGBTQ+ history, connect with each other, and share experiences. The event is open to all Berklee students, faculty, and staff from all campuses. Please register here to attend. Throughout June, Berklee’s Diversity and Inclusion Office will also be sharing and highlighting events occurring in and around the Boston area to honor Pride Month. To stay up-to-date on these offerings, please see the announcements on Berklee’s Hub and the Diversity and Inclusion Office’s social media. 

We will leave you with a quote from the great activist and writer Audre Lorde, a powerful voice of the civil rights movement, Black, womanist, and lesbian communities: “You do not have to be me in order for us to fight alongside each other. I do not have to be you to recognize that our wars are the same. What we must do is commit ourselves to some future that can include each other and to work toward that future with the particular strengths of our individual identities. And in order for us to do this, we must allow each other our differences at the same time as we recognize our sameness.”

May we all carry this powerful message as we experience Pride Month and beyond.

Sincerely,

Erica Muhl
President

Lacretia Johnson Flash
Vice President, Diversity and Inclusion