In recognition of Pride Month, Fresno State celebrated its third annual pride flag raising ceremony on June 1. The ceremony was hosted by Fresno State’s Cross Cultural and Gender Center, with speeches from University President Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval, Fresno City Council Vice President Annalisa Perea, Fresno State student Jonathan Gonzalez and recent graduate Cherika Gamble.
The flag was designed by American artist Daniel Quasar in 2018. Quasar’s design adapted the iconic rainbow flag to be more inclusive within the LGBTQ+ community, adding a chevron with stripes colored specifically to represent LGBTQ+ community members of color and transgender individuals.
“For me, it represents a change in the university and in the community — prioritizing our queer students and our allied students, staff and faculty; prioritizing representation for them,” said Lexey Jenkins, lead student coordinator of LGBTQ+ programs and services at the Cross Cultural and Gender Center and inaugural Jeffery Robinson Humanics Scholar for the Bulldog Pride Fund. “Being queer is an invisible identity…so it can be very isolating. It’s important for queer students, staff and faculty to see visible representations of their identity,”
Raising of the progress pride flag on campus took place amid a larger nationwide struggle for LGBTQ+ rights and liberties. Historically, the university has also seen its own LGBTQ+ students fight for visibility and acceptance on campus.
In 1987, after founding the Gay Lesbian Student Alliance (now known as United Student Pride) and building a booth for the group on campus, students faced immediate backlash from their peers, said Dr. Peter Robertson, founding member of the group and director of alumni connections for the Fresno State Alumni Association.
“I can’t go back and sugarcoat the experiences that I lived through as a student and saw my classmates go through, where it’s [us] being threatened, having people scream Bible verses at you, walking by and spitting on you…It was a very, very emotional, stressful time to be a student,” Robertson said in an interview with The Collegian.
The group’s booth was victim to an arson attack and subsequent acts of vandalism and anti-LGBTQ+ demonstrations.
Despite the initial resistance, United Student Pride has existed on campus for 36 years.
“I’m aware of the history that’s marginalized the LGBTQ community…and I’m aware of the great gifts that the LGBTQ community brings to the community,” University President Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval said. “I’m going to create a Fresno State, together with you, that includes and honors you.”
The university has taken significant strides to become a more inclusive and accepting space for its LGBTQ+ students, including offering an annual Rainbow Graduation Celebration, gender affirming care services at the Student Health and Counseling Center and a newly instated LGBTQ2+ minor.
Jenkins recognized and celebrated these changes at the university. She also shared that she hopes to one day see the addition of a statue to represent an LGBTQ+ historical figure in the Fresno State Peace Garden.
