Bradley University student organization Brave Space celebrates the raising of Pride flags on campus during National LGBTQ History Month.
Since 2020, Pride flags have been raised during the month of October in Bradley’s “Circle of Pride,” located behind the Hayden-Clark Alumni Center.
The Circle of Pride usually holds Bradley University flags, but often are changed to represent different communities on campus.
Women and Gender Studies Department chair Dr. Amy Scott said student organizations like Brave Space have advocated for Pride flags to be flown from the Circle of Pride since its creation in 2020.
“My goal is to follow the lead of students and figure out what students want and need on this campus to feel included and to make sure that they can be themselves and find community here,” Scott said.
Before having members of the Bradley community raise the flags, President of Peoria Proud and Bradley alumni Cassie Lucchesi gave a speech about her experiences at Bradley as an LGBTQ student in the early 2000s.
“I'm grateful to Bradley University. For the education that I had got here, the friendships that I made, the experiences that I had, to see now that Bradley has so many groups, social groups, on campus that support LGBTQ people is really incredible. It proves that Bradley is moving in the right direction and supporting all of their students.” Lucchesi said.
Rraising of the pride flags on campus is an important message on representation, she added.
“When I came to Bradley, over a decade ago, there was no open, there were no openly gay people on campus,” she said. “There were no flag raisings, there were no Pride flags hung in classrooms or pins being worn by professors or anything like that. And so this event really is so special to the people that go to school here, the prospective students that come here to really be able to see themselves represented on this campus.”
Co-Leader of Brave Space Vincent Blissett is one of the founding members of the student-run LGBTQ organization. He said his goal is to provide a safe space for students on campus.
“When I came here, I was promised so many things, I was told so many things about college. And I was so pumped and so excited. And then I got here,” Blissett said, “And when I did, I found out it was not the environment I thought it was. It wasn't as accepting as I thought, and there wasn't really a place for me.”
Blissett said he realized the way to find a place for himself was to make it.
“We knew the only way to do that was to be an activist in the community, and go out and create this environment by making these events, workshops and classes, doing anything we could to show other people they're in a better place than I was when I came here” he said.
Peoria Proud also will be hosting an event for the Transgender Day of Remembrance at Bradley University on Nov 11.
For more information on Peoria Proud, visit peoriaproud.org
