Pride Month extends beyond June, serving as a year-round reminder of the importance of celebrating and advocating for LGBTQIA+ rights, fostering inclusivity, and continuing the fight against discrimination and inequality. The IU School of Social Work Diversity Council encourages our social work community to join them in their commitment to this mission.
With humility and respect the Indiana University School of Social Work Diversity Council celebrates the significance of the month of June for the LGBTQIA+ community. We have a critical responsibility to dedicate June to highlight and support the community amidst the further marginalization, discrimination, and harassment in the state, nation, and globe. We do this through recognizing the communal achievements of LGBTQIA+ organizations, agencies, and companies; acknowledging the key roles of drag queens, gender-diverse People of Color, and lesbians during the early stages of the Stonewall riots; celebrating the pioneers of the LGBTQIA+ rights movement; and mourning the tolls of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, elevated rates of murder of gender-diverse People of Color, and high rates of suicidality and completed suicides among LGBTQIA+ youth. We are appalled by the erosion of the rights of LGBTQIA+ community members and attempts to erase the community through actions such as bans on gender-affirming care for gender-diverse youth, prohibitions on discussions of gender and sexuality within education, removal of books and materials about the LGBTQIA+ community from public locations, elevations in anti-LGBTQIA+ social and political rhetoric, and increased threats of violence directed toward events celebrating the LGBTQIA+ community. We call upon all members of the Indiana University School of Social Work community to advocate for the increased representation of members of the LGBTQIA+ community, engage in true allyship beyond words and corporate rainbow-washing, and develop and support policies and procedures that uphold the rights of all persons within the LGBTQIA+ community.
The Leadership of the IU School of Social Work Diversity Council