Proud & Loud: Embracing Pride at Yale SOM

This June, Yale SOM joins in the global celebration of Pride to honor the accomplishments and humanity of LGBTQ+ people, while acknowledging the work ahead to ensure safety and freedom for all. Our efforts focus on celebrating progress, inclusion, and authenticity, as well as honoring the resilience of this community amid the ongoing fight for human rights. 

This year’s NYC Pride theme is “Reflect. Empower. Unite.” In a press release, organizers said they chose the theme to highlight the importance of New York’s annual Pride parade as “the intersection of queer liberation and joy.” Nodding to the 55th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising, a six-day protest in June 1969 that catalyzed the gay rights movement in the United States and around the world, the theme also encourages today’s activists and allies to draw inspiration from the past.

Yale kicked off Pride programming with a dedicated week of activities in April, while classes were still in session and student life was buzzing. The celebrations will continue throughout June. Yale’s Office of LGBT Resources offers safe spaces for the queer community and fun ways for staff, faculty, and students to participate.  

At SOM, the Office of Inclusion and Diversity (OID) provided opportunities for additional reflection and celebration. We honored the university’s Pride Week with a slate of events, from a curated Spotify playlist to a book giveaway featuring LGBTQ+ authors and stories, guest speakers, and a cuisine takeover highlighting recipes from queer chefs. Discussion topics included queer movements in the Middle East and the writings of Black gay authors during the AIDS crisis. Evans Hall’s large video walls also showcased notable LGBTQ+ figures and their stories, and the celebration allowed us to meaningfully support local and national queer-owned restaurants, bookstores, and venues. 

Out of Office, Yale’s LGBTQ+ student club, created this year’s theme for Pride Week: “Proud & Loud: Embracing Visibility.” Throughout the week, the club hosted events structured around this theme, including conversations with Margaret Milardo-Ward, SOM’s embedded mental health counselor, and Dan Gross ’98, a private equity investor and director of Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund. Out of Office wrapped up Pride Week celebrations with a drag brunch outing at Place2Be in downtown New Haven.  

OID hosts multiple cultural immersions throughout the academic year to encourage the SOM community to deeply engage with and experience different cultures through sound, taste, touch, and thought in support of our mission to foster understanding, empathy, and inclusivity. We invite you to learn more about our commitment to celebrating diversity and fostering inclusion at SOM.  

Happy Pride Month! 

The Office of Inclusion and Diversity    
som.inclusion.diversity@yale.edu