Pride 2020

Happy Pride 2020! Below you'll find great Pride activities available to York community members and beyond.

Pride Ceremony: June 25, 12:00 PM

You view the livestream from the June 25, 2020 ceremony above. Enjoy and

• • This ceremony will bring together:
    • • Vice President of Equity, People Culture Sheila Cote Meek (she/her), who’s going to be our fabulous MC
        • Blu Waters, Blu Waters (she/her), Two-Spirit Cree Elder, will support us with a Traditional Opening to the ceremony
        • Rhonda Lenton (she/her), President of York University, will provide welcoming remarks
        • Vice President Campaigns & Advocacy for the York Federation of Students, Jessie Whyte (they/them), who will remark on Pride
        • Co-Chairs and members of SexGen, Chris Chapman (they/them), Gin Marshall (he/they), and Ruth Koleszar-Green (she/her), who will share stories of the Pride Quilt and trans resilience
        • Very special Performances by:
          • Poet Brandon Pereira (he/him) will provide a spoken word performance
          • Faith Andrew (she/her) will be performing an original song
          • A drag performance from Anton Ling (he/him), but you might know her as Aurora Matrix (she/her)
        • Community Organizer Yamikani Msosa (Ze-Hir/She- Her), sharing perspectives on how to Center Joy as an Act of Resistance and Liberation

Have questions? Feel free to email them to jthyriar@yorku.ca or darcybel@yorku.ca

Pride Beyond Pride Month: York International Virtual Coffee Break (Hosted Daily!)

Happy Pride! Join us this Tuesday on June 30th for York International’s Virtual Coffee Break as we all get together to celebrate Pride! Come and chat with us as we talk and learn more about how we can celebrate Pridebeyond just the month of June and throughout the year!

We welcome all members of the York community, whether you’re a student, a staff member or a faculty member, to come join us! The coffee break will be held online on Zoom, between 2:00 to 4:00 pm ET.

To register, you can go to the YI calendar and click on June 30th or you can click here for more information about the coffee breaks!

We are so excited and we look forward to seeing you all there!

Career Centre: LGBTQ+ Resources and Social Media Quizzes

The Career Centre is celebrating the pride month with various quizzes and posts on our social platforms.

The Career Centre has created a resource page for LBTQ+ students! On this page, students can find links to various resources that include everything from the top 100 diversity employers to exclusive events. We are a safe and positive space for LGBTQ+ students and new graduates. When exploring careers, questions may arise, such as disclosure to employers and co-workers, or finding careers that fit with your values.

For private and confidential assistance with these questions. students are encouraged to book a Career Counselling appointment. Contact career@yorku.ca for more information.

Student Counselling & Development (SCD) Get-Together

On June 24^th, from 3:30 – 4:30 p.m., SCD will be hosting a celebratory event/ student get-together for students in the LGBTQ+ community.

This event will be hosted by SCD counsellors who are a part of the LGBTQ+ community and will provide a safe space for students to discuss how they plan to celebrate virtual pride, tips and strategies on how to celebrate safely online, and foster a space for peer-to-peer connection. The event will also be kicking-of the resuming of SCD’s biweekly LGBTQ+ Support Group.

See the poster, linked below, for more information!

SCD Pride Celebration_Student Get-together

SexGen's Milestones: Highlights from the Past

Pride is action, and SexGen York has been taking action for decades. If you didn’t know, SexGen is the University-wide committee responsible for advising and advocating around issues and concerns of sexual and gender diversity.

In honour of Pride 2020, a retrospective of the work of SexGen offers an opportunity to look at the subcommittee's accomplishments.

To read this retrospective, follow this link.

LGBTQ+ Alumnus Inspiring the Class of 2020

On June 9, alumnus and Goldman Sachs executive Tuvia Borok (LLB ‘03) gave a virtual talk for the graduating class of 2020, titled, Unashamedly Me: Bringing your Authentic Self into the Workforce

Tuvia shared his personal experience with authentic, multifaceted diversity, and re-defining heteronormative stereotypes.

Many grads found this session to be meaningful, one attendee commented: “This was incredible! I didn’t know what to expect, but despite this, Tuvia’s story and presentation exceeded my expectations. In particular, Tuvia’s honesty was so touching. As someone who is in or out of the closet depending on where I am and who I am around, I am now inspired to be more myself, especially in the workplace.”

To learn more about Tuvia and his work in the LGBTQ+ community, read his Alumni profile.

If you’d like to watch Tuvia’s talk, the recording has been posted on the Alumni and Friends YouTube Channel here.

Volunteer Opportunities for LGBTQ+ York Alumni

The Alumni Engagement team is seeking to connect with York’s LGBTQ+ alumni community to build an Alumni Network. In partnership with York staff, our Alumni Networks organize social activities, professional networking opportunities, support current students, and much more!

For anyone interested in getting involved, please contact Nicole Light, Senior Alumni Engagement Officer, at nlight@yorku.ca. 

To learn more about the Alumni Networks program, please visit https://alumniandfriends.yorku.ca/connect/alumni-networks/

Virtual Pride (Pride Toronto)

Throughout June, Pride Toronto will continue to show Pride with an online portal to showcase the best of what’s happening in our city. They will be highlighting local collectives, artists, makers, and performers who work so hard all year round and some of whom have been part of Pride Toronto for 20+ years.

Their virtual festival will be our best representation of what you would have experienced on our physical footprint, with a heavy focus on implementing visual arts and community-focused programming.

Click here for the Pride Toronto webpage.

Looking for Virtual Pride BIPOC Programming? Please follow this link.