Roughly 50 people gathered around the flagpole at the LAC on Monday afternoon to watch a Pride flag be raised in honor of Harvey Milk Day, marking the second year the college has done this.
There were several faculty members who came to show their support for the raising of the flag. One of whom was Mike Munoz, the college’s first openly gay superintendent-president.
“As an openly gay man, this day is really personally meaningful for me,” Munoz said. “For me, this is a very powerful and impactful moment for us as a college to be able to recognize the power of raising a Pride flag.”
The flag was raised in honor of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California. It will fly throughout the month of June for Pride month.
Also attending the event was Dr. Jerome Hunt, a political science professor and student equity coordinator at LBCC. He spoke openly on the challenges he faced while growing up as a Black, gay man.
In his speech, Hunt emphasized the significance of social equity and how it still seems to be lacking within our society.
“We must stop treating the LGBTQIA community as if it is a monolith. We need to acknowledge that all issues that impact the community do not affect everyone the same way. We need to embrace the rich intercultural diversity of the community and accept and advocate for all letters of the acronym once and for all,” Hunt said.
Hunt also spoke about the misconceptions surrounding social equity.
“Most importantly, the narrative of, ‘extending equity to one group comes at the expense of others,’ needs to be stopped once and for all, because we all stand to benefit when everyone in our society is truly equal,” Hunt said.
Trustee President Uduak-Joe Ntuk also attended the event and shared his support for the raising of the flag.
“We have to have visual acknowledgment and respectful events like this. We just need to remind everybody that our goal and our mission is that we are a campus for everybody, and when we say ‘all’ we mean all,” Ntuk said.
Giving visual acknowledgement to LGBTQ students is important, but offering the necessary resources is what will truly help them succeed in the long run, which is why the school is working to provide its students with services they may need to overcome obstacles.
“We have an LGBTQ+ resource page on the LBCC website where any of us can find out about various services and supports that exist on campus. There’s also a pronoun guide that’s there more so for faculty and staff to really help ensure that we properly identify and recognize our LGBTQIA+ students,” Hunt said.
LBCC plans to continue to show recognition for its LGBTQ students and faculty by being apart of the Long Beach Pride Parade on July 10.