The Q Center organized a Pride March to honor National Coming Out Day and highlight LGBTQ+ visibility in the campus community on Friday.

Celebrated annually on Oct. 11, the first National Coming Out Day began in 1988 as a way to commemorate the 1987 Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. In 1996, the Human Rights Campaign, a national LGBTQ+ rights advocacy organization, created its National Coming Out Project to provide information and resources about the coming out process.

Students gathered by the large rock at the edge of the Peace Quad with signs reading “We Are Everywhere” and “Queer and Proud.” Mansha Rahman, president of the Rainbow Pride Union and a senior double-majoring in Spanish and art and design, described what National Coming Out Day meant to them and highlighted the importance of LGBTQ+ advocacy in the current political climate.

“It’s really unfortunate that we are facing so, so much discrimination from the Trump administration, that we’re facing so much from them, and I think it’s really important that all of us as a community stand up together,” Rahman said. “I realized that within the community, there’s still so many issues that are going to divide people and divide us, but I really do think it’s so important that we still recognize that we are all alike in so many ways.”

A representative from SHADES, an organization for queer students of color, spoke next and said the organization aims to create a safe space.

Krizia Yao ‘25, a first-year graduate student studying public administration and the outreach graduate assistant for the Q Center, told the crowd it was important for LGBTQ+ students to have spaces on campus where they can open up about themselves. She also acknowledged that many young people might not feel safe coming out to friends or family and that their experiences should be recognized.

Students then marched from the Peace Quad along the Spine back to the Q Center, located on the ground floor of Glenn G. Bartle Library.

Opened in 2016, the Q Center provides an open space for students to come and meet others with common experiences.

For those looking for queer voices in literature, the center has a shelf stocked with LGBTQ+ themed books. Students seeking gender-affirming clothing can visit the Q Center’s Gender Bender Closet to pick up clothing and accessories.

The Q Center is also hosting other events to commemorate LGBTQ+ History Month. Last Thursday, the Q Center joined the Binghamton University Libraries, the Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies and the Theatre Departments to host the second-annual Sparkle and Scholars event. Samantha Vega, a Rochester-based drag queen, joined faculty and community members in talking about queer scholarship and representation in academia.

On Oct. 21, the center will also host its first Queer Youth Conference, with Mrs. Kasha Davis, who competed on RuPaul’s Drag Race, and youth from the local community.

“Events like these also show to the University, to SUNY, that students are here, that students need this and they want this,” Yao told Pipe Dream. “They’re actively participating, and it’s something that people ask for.”