EIU Pride president, Joe Stauder, plans to use the month of October to discuss the registered student organization’s impact on campus as well as the community.

Since Stauder’s freshman year on campus, they have been very involved in the group and all of the events that have been put on by Pride.

“It is invaluable to me,” Stauder said. “It is a support system, kind of like a family, first and foremost for the people who need it.”

October is the LGBT History Month, and Pride will be hosting a wide variety of activities. Tuesday is National Coming Out Day and Pride will be hosting a “Coming Out Party” in front of Doudna all day. Attendees will play games and listen to music.

Oct. 27 through the 28 the group will have a LGBT history exhibit in the Union’s Bridge Lounge and the Doudna steps.

Pride welcomes anyone to the meetings including students, faculty and community members of the area. While Stauder said the first goal of the organization is to act as a support system, Pride also focuses on being educational as well.

At the meetings, the group talks about other marginalized issues that are not always a main discussion when it comes to LGBT topics to raise awareness, such as transgender issues.

Lauren Eberle, a junior sociology major, is a member of Pride.

“I grew a lot through the events that Pride hosted,” Eberle said. “Some were focused on activism while others were just on making friends.”

Stauder said that those who attend Pride do not need to self-disclose their life in order to go to meetings.

“It is just a place for people to exist,” they said.

Another event that Pride hosts is The Diva Drag Show that is a fundraiser to raise money in support of SACIS. The show will be held March 23 during the spring semester.

Pride meetings are held every Monday at 8 p.m. in the Charleston-Mattoon room in the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.

Missy Stone can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].