{"id":111753,"date":"2021-06-10T11:40:04","date_gmt":"2021-06-10T16:40:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/?p=111753"},"modified":"2021-06-10T11:40:08","modified_gmt":"2021-06-10T16:40:08","slug":"out-in-the-grove-to-celebrate-lgbtq-community-saturday-june-12-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/out-in-the-grove-to-celebrate-lgbtq-community-saturday-june-12-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"“Out in the Grove” to Celebrate LGBTQ Community Saturday, June 12, 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

June 12 event to welcome community, provide resources for all<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

After a year without an official pride celebration on the University of Mississippi campus and in the larger community, the\u00a0Sarah Isom Center for Women and Gender Studies\u00a0<\/strong>is bringing the annual celebration of the LGBTQ community to the center of campus \u2013 The Grove<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Out in the Grove: A Pride Celebration” will take place Saturday, June 12, starting at 4 pm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The move to the Grove is symbolic to Jaime Harker<\/strong>, UM professor of English and director of the Sarah Isom Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe take pride in celebrating our LGBTQ community on campus, but it\u2019s never been in the Grove or on the Grove stage.\u201d Harker said. \u201cI think it\u2019s a great moment to reflect on (how) far we\u2019ve come. The\u00a0UM Pride Network\u00a0(then known as the GLB Association) met in a secret location, and there was a guard because they were fearful of backlash. Now it\u2019s clear that LGBTQ community members are central to our community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

George Adam Graves<\/strong> hasn\u2019t been back to campus since he was a student in 2007-10, but this weekend he\u2019ll be returning and performing as his female impersonation character Madyson Andrews Steele<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Graves, who lives in Baton Rouge, Louisiana<\/strong>, said the Gay-Straight Alliance<\/strong> was still organizing quietly when he was a student, and he\u2019s excited to be welcomed back to campus to celebrate pride.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith everything we\u2019ve been through this past year \u2013 through the pandemic and the many active civil rights campaigns \u2013 I just want to bring a light to the stage,\u201d Graves said. \u201cI want people to see a person performing without being ashamed of who they are, and I want them to leave with a smile on their face.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though the Oxford Pride<\/strong> celebration has become a summer staple for the community since its inception in 2016, COVID-19 forced the organizers to cancel in 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe saw two real needs,\u201d said Kevin Cozart, operations coordinator for the Sarah Isom Center. \u201cFirst of all, Oxford\u2019s, and really north Mississippi\u2019s, queer community needed a way to come together and celebrate who they are. Secondly, most of Oxford\u2019s spring events have been cancelled or limited for two years now, so we wanted to give our community a way to come together safely for a day of music, food and fun. Ally support has always been important to us, and Oxford Pride is really a \u2018Y\u2019all means all\u2019 event.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The event not only aims to be celebratory but also to connect members of the LGBTQ community. Throughout the day, local LGBTQ and allied organizations will provide information and resources at the festival\u2019s Issue Alley along the Walk of Champions<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe queer community exists, but it hasn\u2019t always been easy for new students to find it,\u201d Harker said. \u201cHaving it in the heart of the Grove makes it clear that the queer community here is celebrated, valued and supported.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the event of rain, activities will be moved inside the Ole Miss Student Union. For a schedule of Out in the Grove events and more information on Oxford Pride, visit\u00a0OxfordPride.rocks<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

June 12 event to welcome community, provide resources for all After a year without an official pride celebration<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":238,"featured_media":111754,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8428],"tags":[2300,18751,18749,11354,8429,17680,18750,5,7067,4,14408,5744,2012,655,4357],"class_list":["post-111753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-event","tag-baton-rouge","tag-gay-straight-alliance","tag-george-adam-graves","tag-jaime-harker","tag-lgbtq","tag-louisiana-state-university","tag-madyson-andrews-steele","tag-mississippi","tag-ole-miss","tag-oxford","tag-oxford-pride","tag-sarah-isom-center-for-women-and-gender-studies","tag-the-grove","tag-university-of-mississippi","tag-walk-of-champions"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Out-in-the-Grove-poster.jpg?fit=1014%2C738&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/238"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111753"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111753\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}