Bucknell celebrated its annual pride week from March 26 to April 1. The week-long celebration with organized events was hosted by Bucknell University’s Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA). 

Almost every day of the week consisted of a different event hosted by the organization open to any student on campus. The week started off with a potluck on Sunday at Fran’s House, an on-campus affinity house dedicated as LGBTQ+ space and housing. The following event took place Monday night in the ELC Walls Lounge with Sky Brock as the featured Trans Visibility speaker. Canvas Paint Night at the 7th Street Studio and Makerspace was hosted from 7-9 p.m. on Tuesday night and students were able to register for spots in advance. 

Thursday, March 30 featured the Art Showcase. The event was held at the Samek Art museum and was presented by GSA in collaboration with The Blueprint organization and QTPOC. Formal dress was encouraged for the event and appetizers and refreshments were provided. Friday night took place at the Berelson Center for Jewish Life and was Pride Week Shabbat starting at 6 p.m. Saturday night concluded the week with the annual Drag Ball at Uptown. The event featured both professional drag performers as well as students. It took place from 8-12 a.m. and performers listed were Dallas, Alonya Chest, Sarabesque, Alizee LaCreame and Ariana Autumn.

Extensive planning by the GSA Executive Board goes on each year to make the week and its many events possible. The board includes AP Howell ’24 as the President, Iona Pitkin ’25 as Vice President, Mia Bohi-Green ’23 as Secretary, Kelsey Werkheiser ’25 as Treasurer, and Maria Wooden ’26 as the First-Year Rep. Howell took time to share with the Bucknellian the experience of planning Pride Week.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to have the opportunity to plan Pride Week for two years in a row,” Howell said. “It has certainly been one of the most stressful projects I have ever taken on, but it is so rewarding to be able to put on events that do well to bring the greater queer community on campus together.”

Howell discussed the impacts that the COVID-19 pandemic had on their progress with Pride Week on campus.

“It was a challenge to figure out what needed to be done for each event because there was an entire year that just wasn’t able to do a lot of the typical Pride Week things. It was as if we had lost an entire decade’s worth of knowledge in one year, but we bounced back from it. Pretty well, too, I would say,” Howell said.

Howell continued on to explain that the recovery from the pandemic took hours of work and learning how to plan from various sources.

“Currently, I am trying to start a trend of early planning for these things so the process gets less stressful in the future, which would entail setting dates and signing out spaces before the next academic year even starts,” they said. 

Commenting on the events throughout the week Howell identified the QTPOC/Blueprint Art Showcase and the Drag Ball as their favorite events. 

“In case you don’t know, QTPOC stands for Queer and Trans People of Color, which is a GSA Breakout group (identity-specific groups which also meet weekly), and The Blueprint is an organization committed to highlighting and showcasing art created by people of color on campus,” Howell Said. “Their event was beautiful in a variety of ways, not least because there was a formal dress code. The art, both hand-made or written/performed, was very enlightening about the lived experiences of this section of the queer community. This was a new event this year, but it is my intention to continue a tradition of highlighting other identities that intersect greatly with queerness, so you can expect to see something like this again next year for sure!”

Howell’s last comments were regarding the Drag Ball which they quoted as their “biggest event of the year for a reason.”

“Everyone loves drag, and it is proven more and more every year as the attendance of this event grows.” Howell said. “And not only do people love it, but it is such an important outlet that many use to express all the layers of their identity. With that being said, it sickens me that there is so much legislation being debated right now that would effectively ban this practice of gender expression. If such a law were to be passed in Pennsylvania today, I would probably end up in jail by the end of the day.”