UTRGV organization plans to celebrate Pride in October

UTRGV Texas Rising’s Queer Space Alliance chapter is hosting the “Pride Started as a Riot!” event from noon to 3 p.m. Oct. 8 in the Cenizo Room of the Edinburg Ballroom Complex.

The event will have face painting, giveaways, free food, contraceptives and menstrual products. They will also have their own “queer closet” to provide individuals with gender-affirming clothing if they wish to seek that out. 

According to Lilian Escudero, a marketing senior and student leader with Texas Rising (TXR), TXR is a nonprofit, nonpartisan statewide organization with a presence on both the Edinburg and Brownsville campuses.

“We work a lot towards progressive issues like LGBTQ+ rights, environmental justice, immigration rights, and so on,” she said. “So we’re not only on campus, providing resources to students, but we also help a lot out in the community as well.”

TXR started the Queer Space Alliance chapter in 2024. According to Escudero, it was created as a response to the restriction of the DEI offices and programs across universities in Texas.

“We felt that it was very necessary to still have student-led spaces in which diversity and inclusion can be celebrated and uplifted,” she said. 

Escudero described the event as a “mini Pride”; it is a smaller-scale celebration that TXR is bringing onto campus as a way to highlight the history of pride. 

“It serves as an event to create a fun and welcoming space for students who might or may not identify as LGBTQ+,” she said. 

Escudero said it is a space to have fun, celebrate culture, identities and history, and uplift each other.

“We really want students to leave feeling like they found community and that they know of resources on campus and of other organizations there to uplift them and support them,” she said. 

Escudero said people should attend because it is an opportunity to meet other people, make new connections, have fun and learn about the history of pride. 

“That’s what I would say to students who would want to come, who are nervous about coming … come by, meet people and see what the community is like here on campus,” she said. 

With this event, Escudero said she wants students to know they are not alone on campus. There are spaces, organizations and people here who are working to support them and uplift them as individuals. 

She said it’s very important because so many students come to campus with different backgrounds and identities and it can be difficult to find a dedicated safe space where they can find community and express themselves.

They are working on an upcoming event called Protect the Dolls for Trans Visibility Week where attendees will decorate shirts in support of dolls, a term that refers to transgender women. Information about the event remains pending as TXR finalizes the date with UTRGV’s Center for Student Involvement. 

“Don’t feel nervous, don’t feel shy,” Escuduro said. “There’s a lot of community here, and we are so looking forward to providing that community for students.”