The week of events are a large collaborative effort between residence hall LBGT groups PRIDE, PRISM, RING, Spectrum and LIGHT, student groups Intersection, TransAction, Delta Lambda Phi, Gay Christian Fellowship and The Alliance of Queer and Ally Students, with support from Canterbury MSU and the LBGT Resource Center.

Criminal justice sophomore Jess Stevens, president of Spectrum, said the week isn’t about pushing advocacy rights, but having a good time.

“We have fun events that celebrate being out and proud at MSU,” he said.

The week began with The Official MSU Drag Show on Friday, where about 10 drag queens and kings performed for a crowd of nearly 650. On Sunday afternoon, Intersection hosted an evening with author Natasha T. Miller, a poet whose work highlights the realities of homophobia and coming out, and Spectrum held Picnic Gaymes, where students played Apples to Apples and talked about upcoming Pride Week events.

Stevens said MSU’s LBGT community chose this particular time period as Pride Week because it leads up to the national Day of Silence on Friday. During the day, individuals of all types across the U.S. remain silent for a full day to recognize those who have died from suicide or hate crimes based on sexuality and gender identity, he said.

Today through Thursday, various groups will hold events to discuss topics such as religion and sexuality, gender binary and the LBGT community across generations.

At 4 p.m. on Friday, a guest speaker, who has not yet been confirmed, will kick off the Pride Parade. The course of the parade will wind from Student Services along Grand River through the campus and end at the rock on Farm Lane.

Lunsford said although the students could not walk in the streets of East Lansing, they still hope for a wide audience.

“We want the parade to be noticed by both the East Lansing community and the MSU community,” he said.

Lunsford said from his experiences, the parade shows unity within individuality.

After the parade, Michigan-based singer Abigail Stauffer will break the Day of Silence with a performance, as members of LIGHT release sky lanterns in honor of lives lost from hate crimes and fear.

To wrap up Pride Week, PRISM will host Clue: The 2012 Pride Prom on Saturday evening, where students are invited to dress up as their favorite characters from the classic board game.
PRISM vice president Sean Watkins said both costumes and dates of any sexual orientation are welcome.

“For many in the LGBT community, we were not able to bring dates of the same gender or do anything show to pride at our proms in high school,” he said. “(Students will) have a chance to come and take part in it again.”

James Madison freshman Josh Braude said he plans to take advantage of the opportunity, sporting his dressier clothes and attending the dance with a group of friends.

“It’s really cool that MSU puts on Pride Week and that the campus is accepting enough to have it,” he said.

As Watkins reflects on his past three years of being involved in Pride Week, he said this year will be about passing the torch to younger generations of students — the future of MSU’s LBGT community.

“It’s about watching (younger students) take part in the events and continue the legacy that has been created many decades before I even got here,” he said.