Peaceful demonstration in support of LGBTQ+ community brings 450

By K. MAUSER, ABBY CHAMOT & GRETCHEN NAGLE

The Breeze

As the bell atop Wilson Hall chimed five times Wednesday, hundreds of students, faculty members, transgender advocates and supporters from around Harrisonburg gathered at the Quad in anticipation for the beginning of “Dukes for Pride.”

Once it commenced, attendees were overcome with tears as they listened to the passionate messages of speakers. However, the crowd wasn’t solemn or silent, but rather supportive and loudly cheered for each speaker who shared their story.

Dukes for Pride, a peaceful gathering of the LGBTQ+ community centered around transgender rights, began at 5 p.m. and ran until about 7:45 p.m. — simultaneous with conservative political commentator Liz Wheeler’s 6 p.m. lecture in the Festival Conference and Student Center. Dukes for Pride began outside Wilson Hall and featured multiple speakers, drag queens and even a lip-sync battle, all accompanied by an ASL interpreter.

This past week has stirred conversation surrounding the first amendment and free speech, and sparked outrage in the community and among transgender allies at JMU. Many attendees of the protest showed support by wearing the colors of the transgender and LGBTQ+ flag.

Students, members of the Harrisonburg community and allies of the transgender community gathered to highlight support for the LGBTQ+ community and protest Wheeler’s appearance. The event amassed a crowd of nearly 450 people.

Heather Due ñas, junior political science major, said she organized the event with the help of a couple of her friends. She said the idea for Dukes for Pride started after she texted a few of her friends and boyfriend and that she wanted to do something small, but said people caught wind of the event and it quickly spread across campus.

“It went so much better than I had planned,” Dueñas said. “My experience was amazing.” harrisonburgmill.com

To kick off the event, Lauren Alleyne, assistant director of the Furious Flower poetry center and associate professor, offered words of support and read a poem to the crowd before her.

Alleyne said she was invited to speak by the organizers of Dukes for Pride. She said the transgender community is standing against hateful language to “dehumanize” people and “take their rights away” and added that the power of poetry and words that were displayed at Dukes for Pride can help to build a community amid the hate.