St. Edward’s student organizations Trans Wellness Organization (TWO) and SEU Pride came together to create a celebration of the one year anniversary of the reinstallation of the Pride flag in Meadows coffee shop.
Last year, the Pride flag that was originally hung up in 2018 was taken down for renovations that were happening in the cafe. After renovations finished, students asked for the flag to be put back up, which did not happen. Students then grew upset with the silence and lack of explanation from faculty and staff. On Feb. 27, 2024, students protested on the university seal from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and were able to speak about their own experiences with being queer, what the Pride flag meant to them and why the university should put it back up. Students also set up a Pride flag art installation of over 1,000 flags outside of the Fine Arts Building.
The celebration of the Pride flag being put back up was held on Friday from 1 p.m. until 5 p.m. and included snacks, music and Pride flags for students as well as pronoun pins and lots of support. Students were also able to make bracelets, create posters and use chalk to draw on the ground as a way to pay homage to the fact that at the protests last year, TWO’s president, Marshall Piel, brought all these things to the protest and students loved it.
There were students who attended the celebration that were not at St. Edward’s yet when the protest happened. Some students were unaware that a protest happened at all.
“I didn’t know (the celebration) was of (a) protest,” freshman Sophia Cuevas said. “I just heard it was like a Pride event, and I had never gone to one yet on campus, and I really wanted to attend one.”
Although some freshmen didn’t know of the protests that happened last year, others had heard about the protests and wanted to come out to the celebration, specifically in support of the LGBTQ+ community on campus.
“It’s one of the first things I heard about when just coming to St. Edwards,” freshman Jackie Gamez said. “The community that revolved around (that) I thought was really interesting, so I just kind of wanted to come out here and just show my support in that, even if I wasn’t there personally. I believe, obviously, diversity is a good thing. The inclusion for everyone shows that there’s a space for anyone on campus and showing that there is a place for you here.”
After the reinstallation of the Pride flag, students have started to feel more like St. Edward’s is a place they belong and a place they feel comfortable and accepted in. For junior Nico Drutz, seeing that Pride flag in the cafe helps him feel like he is being cared for at the university he attends.
“It’s kick ass. It’s comforting, basically whatever I see in any kind of Pride paraphernalia especially around places that you wouldn’t normally expect it,” Drutz said. “I was raised Catholic and even then getting familiar with queer content or just the queer community was a bit of an outsider thing at the time. I feel like I’m being cared for, and I want the university I attend to feel like a place that cares for me.”
For many students who were present at St. Edward’s when the day-long protest was held, it was a day most of them will remember for a while to come. The fact that St. Edward’s students came together on a common ground may seem surface level, but to president of TWO, senior Marshall Piel, it represented a lot more than that.
“It was just such an incredible day,” Piel said. “I will remember that day for the rest of my life, it was just the whole St. Edwards community coming together over something that seemed simple on the surface, but represented a lot more.”
“Just continuing the theme of holding our university accountable and not letting them forget the promise that they made to us and not letting them forget that we will show up for ourselves,” Piel said. “Commemorating not only the victory and the community, but a continued commitment on our part to holding the university accountable and celebrating the victories that we’ve had along the way.”
For many students, seeing that Pride flag in the coffee shop is part of the reason they decided to attend the school and the reason a lot of students have been able to find the friends and community they have throughout their college career.
“Yeah, that flag was honestly such a huge part in why I chose this university over any other university because it said that this is a safe space for people like us, and I want that to be the case for generations to come.” said Piel.
Not only was the protest itself an accomplishment, but being able to walk into the coffee shop everyday and seeing that flag, and knowing that he was a part of making sure that flag was hung in there, Piel feels as though, “… local community is so incredibly important in protecting the safe spaces that we have here and expanding them for future generations.”
“I’m looking for every excuse possible just to be visible and be seen because this was an event that was this time approved by the university,” Piel said. “So I’m just keeping our visibility up, maintaining, continuing to create space for ourselves and in places where other people will see it so that they don’t feel like they can encroach upon our spaces. The university stands with us whether they like it or not, because they did at one point, and we’re not going to let them walk that back.”
