KPU students are creating a pride group on campus
Executives hope the club will provide a space for queer students to gather and build community
Executives from the KPU Pride Society hope the club will provide a space for queer students to gather and build community. (File photo)
Historically, Pride clubs at Kwantlen Polytechnic University have waxed and waned as their originating students graduated, but executives from the newly formed KPU Pride Society hope their group will offer queer students a longer lasting community and space.
It was important to fourth-year psychology student Kayla Garvin to offer queer students both a virtual and in-person safe space to relax, study, and be around other queer people. So Garvin and Vice President Camille Bédard are doing exactly that.
“One of the things I’ve noticed as a queer person, especially at our school, is we don’t really have much of an active queer community,” says Garvin, president of the society. “So, I thought I might as well take a crack at it before I [graduate].”
There are still some things to work out before the beginning of fall semester for in-person spaces, but the KPU Pride Society may be utilizing the “Queer Space” at the Surrey campus in the Birch building, which Garvin says hasn’t been open yet since KPU moved online.
For now, they’re growing the community through their Discord server.
“We want queer people [to join], but we also want it to be a community where allies can come by as well. But primarily this is a community for queer people, for us to get together, have a community, and most importantly feel safe around each other,” says Garvin.
Since handing in their paperwork to the Kwantlen Student Association (KSA) on June 1 — where they were technically called a “collective” instead of a club — the KPU Pride Society has grown to 50 people, according to their Discord server numbers.
In addition to her role with the KPU Pride Society, Garvin is also part of KPU’s Pride Advocacy Group (PAG), which was formed in 2020.
The PAG is composed of students, employees, and KSA representatives from an array of intersectional gender and sexual identities, but Garvin wanted to create a community specifically for students.
PAG aims to support and empower queer students, staff, and faculty by increasing awareness, visibility, and affirmation around sexual and gender diversity issues by developing supportive spaces and demonstrating KPU’s commitment to “enrich and enliven the diversity of its community,” according to the KPU Pride webpage.
In addition to joining the Discord, the KPU Pride Society is also encouraging folks to email them at kpupridesociety@gmail.com for further information on how to participate in their group.
