On Monday, an event called the Gay Bash was held in the PRIDE Center at Sacramento State. The event, which had never been tried at Sac State before, allowed co-sponsoring organizations to mix and mingle. It also gave lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students the opportunity to get to know their core-friendly resources on campus.

PRIDE Week events will be hosted by the PRIDE Center with the support of 13 other co-sponsoring organizations, including the Women’s Resource Center, Multicultural Center, College Democrats, Queer Straight Alliance, Academic Advising, Associated Students Inc., the Career Center, KSSU, Peer Health Educators, UNIQUE, Student Activities and Housing and Residential Life. The Campus Progressive Alliance, who is not on the flyer, made a late entry to co-sponsoring PRIDE Week.

Alexa Harris, a PRIDE Center coordinator thought the Gay Bash was off to a good start.

“I think it’s going awesome. I’m really happy that community members showed up. It’s definitely something that I guess was put out there enough for people to come,” Harris said.

Jason Krantz, junior anthropology major and a member of the LGBT community, said he liked the Gay Bash event.

“I like it. I didn’t know what to expect because I’ve never been to the center,” Krantz said. “I haven’t participated in any school organization before today, but I decided to come in. I felt like I might have a better opportunity to relate to people here.”

Keyko Torres, junior English major and a member of QSA and College Democrats, said it is really important for LGBT students to meet supportive organizations on campus.

“I think it’s really important. I think that it makes them feel they are in a more comfortable and safe environment if they know there’s organizations on campus that support them,” Torres said.

Francisco Hernandez, sophomore environmental studies major and a member of the LGBT community, attended the Gay Bash event. He also thinks it is very important to have organizations on campus supporting LGBT students.

“It shows we’re part of the community as well because we’re interacting with other people. By interacting with people, you’re communicating with them and you’re understanding each other, and it helps to break down stereotypes,” Hernandez said. “Things aren’t that scary if you know someone from that area.”

PRIDE Week events will go on through Friday. There will be free parking from April 7th to the 10th on the sixth floor of parking structure III.

Christina Li can be reached at [email protected]