Northern Kentucky University will celebrate the third annual LGBTQ Norse Pride Week with a series of events that spotlight and celebrate the LGBTQ experience.
Cincinnati’s Jim Obergefell, lead plaintiff in Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court case that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide, will deliver the keynote address on Tuesday, April 5 at 4 p.m. in the Otto M. Budig Theater.
LGBTQ Norse Pride Week is sponsored by NKU’s Office of LGBTQ Programs & Services. Events are planned and organized by a volunteer committee of students. Organizers hope the events appeal to everyone on campus, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.
“We really want the entire NKU community to attend, to get involved, and to learn about some of the issues that LGBTQ students are facing,” said Bonnie Meyer, director of the Office of LGBTQ Programs & Services.
Junior Nick Snider, president of the LGBTQ+ student group Common Ground and a Pride Week organizer, said NKU students, faculty, and staff have embraced the event.
“This year, I can definitely see that there are more student groups and departments willing to be involved with organizing the event,” he said. “It is an event organized by the LGBTQ office, but it’s also an event for the entire campus.”
LGBTQ Norse Pride Week begins Friday afternoon; the kickoff celebration will include a kickball tournament and roller-skating at the Campus Recreation Center.
On Monday, April 4, Cincinnati native and Grammy-nominated jazz artist Fred Hersch will return to campus to speak with students about his world-renowned musical career as well as his experience living with HIV/AIDS.
The event will include a screening of Hersch’s 2011 film, “My Coma Dreams” at the George and Ellen Rieveschl Digitorium in Griffin Hall.
The third annual LGBTQ Norse Pride March will feature Kim Turner, Dean of Students and Vice President of Student Affairs, as the Grand Marshal. The march begins at 12:15 p.m. Tuesday, April 5 on the Central Plaza.
On Wednesday, April 6, students will lead a daylong series of “teach-ins” on a wide range of topics, from gender identity, to allyship, to the sexuality spectrum, at the University Center.
Wednesday evening, a staged reading of “The Laramie Project” will be held at the Student Union. The 2000 play chronicles the wake of murder of University of Wyoming gay student Matthew Shepard in in 1998.
The 3rd annual LGBTQ Open Mic Night is Thursday, April 7 at the Student Union, with featured poet Bianca Lynne Spriggs, an Affrilachian poet and Cave Canem Fellow from Lexington.
LGBTQ Norse Pride Week will conclude on Friday, April 8 with the “Economic Inequalities Summit: Building Just Communities”, a daylong symposium sponsored by the Office of Inclusive Excellence, NKU Honors Program, and Chase College of Law Center for Excellence in Advocacy.
Friday evening will bring “Queer Factor: The 2016 Spring Drag Show” and the CSI Mixer & Dance, beginning at 7 p.m. in the Student Union Ballroom.
For more information or to attend, please visit lgbtq.nku.edu.
Northern Kentucky University