{"id":196937,"date":"2023-03-29T08:21:21","date_gmt":"2023-03-29T12:21:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=196937"},"modified":"2023-03-29T08:27:45","modified_gmt":"2023-03-29T12:27:45","slug":"pride-party-puts-uconn-waterbury-on-the-map","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2023\/03\/pride-party-puts-uconn-waterbury-on-the-map\/","title":{"rendered":"Pride Party Puts UConn Waterbury on the Map"},"content":{"rendered":"

UConn Waterbury quite literally earned itself a gold star Tuesday as host of the city\u2019s first-ever Pride event, with drag queen activist Mucha Mucha Placer marking the occasion by tacking one onto a state map dotted with smaller stars, each denoting an event held to support the LGBTQ+ community.<\/p>\n

\u201cWaterbury deserves a great, big Mucha star, wouldn\u2019t you say, for all you\u2019ve done,\u201d Placer said. \u201cLast year, we had 35 towns and cities throughout Connecticut participating (in Pride Month) and it\u2019s shaping up that there will probably be as many this year. And you all put Waterbury on the map.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s Pride Party \u2013 held a few months earlier than Pride Month in June to better coincide with the school calendar \u2013 was a first for UConn Waterbury<\/a>, too, and drew about a hundred students, staff, and faculty members who meandered between booths with representatives from the Wheeler Clinic, Circle Care Center, Stonewall Speakers, and Radical Advocates for Cross-Cultural Education, among others.<\/p>\n

Organizer Laura Donorfio, an associate professor in human development and family sciences<\/a>, said she originally envisioned the event as a drag show, but it morphed into a Pride event as planning evolved.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy hope is this is going to flourish,\u201d she said. \u201cAfter this event we\u2019re going to put different signs around the campus to make folks feel included, like flags. We didn\u2019t realize we were lacking all of that. If you walk around there\u2019s not one sign that says LGBTQ+-friendly or ally-friendly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Drag
Drag queen activist Mucha Mucha Placer speaks at UConn Waterbury\u2019s inaugural Pride Party celebrating the LGBTQIA+ community on March 28, 2023. (Sydney Herdle\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Now, there will be a permanent rainbow flag in the Student Center, she said, along with a newly launched club, Rainbow Spirit, to promote inclusivity.<\/p>\n

Students need to feel \u201clike this is a safe space, a space where they could thrive, and they could be themselves,\u201d Donorfio said.<\/p>\n

Placer, who served as keynote speaker, said they started to gain an interest in drag in college in the mid-1970s when they took a job as Santa Claus during winter break. That\u2019s when Placer said they realized the power of wearing a costume \u2013 Santa could do no wrong.<\/p>\n

A costume also allowed them to fairly easily cross between feminine and masculine, non-committal to either, and tiptoe into the culture during a time when nonbinary lifestyles weren\u2019t widely accepted. It\u2019s not much different that dressing up for Comic-Con, after all.<\/p>\n

When Placer came out – Richard Stillson \u201988 Ph.D. was a counseling psychology student at UConn in the 1980s \u2013 they said there was only a small room in the Student Union for LGBTQ+ students, a room that had a brown paper bag covering the door\u2019s window \u2013 vastly different than the large space for the Rainbow Center<\/a> today.<\/p>\n

Fast forward 40 years and Placer, who gradually embraced drag, has become a well-known activist in Hartford and beyond, fundraising for various Pride-related causes as matriarch of the House of Pleasure, the collective name of their chosen family that now extends to grandchildren.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was able to nurture,\u201d Placer said, noting strong mother and grandmother influences. \u201cI didn\u2019t know how to be a father. I knew how to be a mother.\u201d<\/p>\n

They\u2019ve nursed broken hearts as matriarch, while bringing awareness to communities across the state, often attending various events in drag, whether Disney princess or villain, even a mermaid: \u201cThere\u2019s a mermaid in me that just won\u2019t let go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Placer started a Pride parade at Connecticut Valley Hospital in Middletown, and in 2015, upon the U.S. Supreme Court\u2019s solidification of marriage equality, introduced Sen. Richard Blumenthal at the lectern \u2013 joking after hugging him that they\u2019ve rubbed makeup on his lapel.<\/p>\n

\"Students,
Students, faculty and staff at UConn Waterbury enjoy the festivities at the campus\u2019 inaugural Pride Party celebrating the LGBTQIA+ community on March 28, 2023. (Sydney Herdle\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

More recently, there have been appearances at Queer Black Lives Movement protests, London Pride celebrations, and public story hours during Mansfield Pride events. And all of that is the result of what happened at the Stonewall Inn.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis whole movement started as a protest,\u201d Placer said. \u201cIt was people like me who don\u2019t dress like their picture ID. \u2026 I do drag to continue that protest, to continue to remind us never to forget.\u201d<\/p>\n

They added that with 400 pieces of proposed legislation across the country to curb LGBTQ+ rights, there\u2019s a danger of being forced back into the closet, \u201cThere\u2019s no way I can get back in there and neither should you.\u201d<\/p>\n

UConn Waterbury\u2019s Pride Party, which is expected to become an annual event, is one way to celebrate LGBTQ+ students and break the stigma, Claudia Pima, co-chair of the campus\u2019s 3-year-old Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice Committee, said.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s meant to \u201ccreate an environment that people feel comfortable and welcomed,\u201d Celina Torres, DEIJ co-chair, added. It\u2019s so LGBTQ+ students \u201ccan see UConn Waterbury as a desirable place to be and they can be themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope we also have more LGBTQ representation at UConn Waterbury,\u201d student organizer Rose Gibbons \u201923 (CLAS) said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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