Dear Campus Community:

June is internationally recognized as LGBTQIA+ Pride month, a time for us to collectively commemorate the 1969 Stonewall Riots and the LGBTQIA+ community’s progress on civil rights issues. Pride Month also is a time to reflect on the work yet to be done to ensure inclusion and equity for all. 

In honor of Montana’s Big Sky Pride Celebration, we’ll light up Main Hall in rainbow colors on the nights of June 19, 20 and 21, 9 – 11 p.m. This lighting signifies UM’s support for our LGBTQIA+ community and more broadly signals our commitment to equity for all. In addition to this public symbol of the University’s commitment to be a welcoming community for all, Monte and a group of UM students and employees will have a presence in the Big Sky Pride Parade in Helena this coming weekend.

At the University of Montana, I’m proud of the advocates and allies who advance our mission to provide access to a quality education and who recognize the potential for all to positively impact society. The UM Allies Program and the UM Lambda Alliance promote this inclusive campus environment, and UM Allies offers excellent trainings to help all of us actively foster a safe and inclusive campus. The more inclusive we are, the more we all benefit.

Big Sky Pride is important to UM for many reasons. We are a community committed to:

• respecting the dignity and ensuring the safety of all;
• celebrating civil rights progress;
• removing the profound headwinds in our fight for equality for all;
• affirming the valuable existence of our LGBTQIA+ colleagues, friends and peers.

Please join me in celebrating Pride Month and Montana Big Sky Pride, and please join me in recognizing the tremendous contributions of the LGBTQIA+ community.

Seth