UAA Pride Center rings in its second year with dozens of attendees

On Jan. 17, Alaska’s first collegiate LGBTQ+ pride center celebrated a milestone year. Working in tandem with Multicultural Student Services (MSS), the repurposed open-plan space in the Student Union has facilitated LGBTQ+ centered events while providing a space for study, art and networking for both students and affiliated clubs such as The Family. 

To commemorate one year since opening this new space space, the Pride Center and Multicultural Student Services collaborated with Aud Pleas, Seawolf Catering, drag artist Penny Dragful and Identity Alaska for a ‘First Anniversary Extravaganza.’ 

The event was attended by dozens of students, staff, faculty and community members. Engagement and Belonging Coordinator and Pride Center lead Jessi Saiki was joined by fellow MSS coordinator Quacyya Quaresma, MSS director Sara Caldwell-Kan and Executive Director of Student Engagement and Inclusion Kim Morton in planning and overseeing the event.

Seawolf Catering provided the celebration with an array of hors dóeurves for attendees to start the festivities.

Prior to the main event, a table dressed with strings of pride flags, large pieces of paper and markers invited guests to write messages of congratulations.

Beginning a slate of speeches, Kan and Saiki first showed appreciation to the Pride Center’s various members, affiliated clubs and donors.

“It is easy to dismiss the Pride Center as just a space, or just a space and some programs, but it is more. It is a tangible reminder of hope,” said Kan during opening remarks. “Hope is something we have to intentionally cultivate and work towards, but hope is also something that outsiders and haters want to destroy.” 

Identifying the center’s accomplishments and challenges in the prior year were especially important for MSS and Pride Center staff. 

 “We're definitely experiencing some pushback,” Saiki said of negative discourse directed toward the Pride Center from both individuals and outlets such as the Alaska Watchman and Must Read Alaska. “I definitely just feel really grateful that we've been a lot more protected than I think other places are.” 

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After a lively and room-spanning performance by Penny Dragful and music from Identity Alaska’s ‘Sing Out’ community choir, Pride Foundation board member, UAA alum, student media board JPC Alumni Representative and DJ Aud Pleas took the stage for a keynote address. Aud spoke of their own role in the Pride Center’s upbringing, pulling from their own experience advocating for LGBTQ+ rights and supporting friends on campus since 2008. They also focused on their family’s history — coming from a multiracial background and ancestors who had been enslaved and whose descendents were advocates of the Civil Rights Movement.

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Pleas said that “Black people have been at the center [of LGBTQ+ advancement].” They see their racial background as a crucial component to understanding their struggles and successes after 20 years as an advocate in Alaska. “[I was] participating in the first batch of community conversations, addressing the barriers my LGBTQ+ peers face to being a receiver and resourceful guide while they navigated coming out,” they said after the event.

Early organizers like Pleas and MC MoHagani Magnetek encountered many other challenges, with the latter enduring “a tremendous amount of hate,” said Pleas. Despite these difficulties, they and many other advocates played instrumental roles in supporting marginalized students and laying the groundwork for the Pride Center’s upbringing.

Saiki expressed a notable degree of excitement for the Pride Center’s past and future after the music and mingling had concluded. “I just feel really lucky that we have a space that's visible for people.”