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Celebrating LGBTQIA+ History and Culture at Georgetown

As the first Catholic, Jesuit higher education institution to establish an LGBTQ Resource Center (2008), Georgetown celebrates the LGBTQIA+ community and draws upon our commitment to continuing to advance equity and inclusion.

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Honoring the LGBTQIA+ Community

Georgetown joins the nation in celebrating LGBTQIA+ History Month, honoring the legacies, accomplishments and contributions of our LGBTQIA+ community to Georgetown and the world at large.

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LGBTQIA+ Histories at Georgetown

To acknowledge and record the work done by LGBTQIA+ students from the 1970s to the founding of the LGBTQ Resource Center in 2008, the center created a blog with a timeline of events, archives and interviews with staff, faculty and alumni.

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Campus Traditions

Lavender Graduation is a special ceremony during commencement season for LGBTQIA+ undergraduate and graduate students to acknowledge their achievements, contributions and unique experiences at Georgetown.

A Testimonial

“Out@MSB is crucial to creating meaningful visibility on campus. At a university like Georgetown, which can be very internationally focused, people have to realize how important recognized visibility might be for a lot of different international communities.”

Identity and Voices

“As a queer person who had very few, if any, queer role models in science, I hope to serve as a role model for other folks who may have struggled with their identities in the STEM fields.”

“This is a moment to reflect upon and pay tribute to the LGBTQ+ people who endured discrimination, mockery and/or harm solely because of their true selves and their choice of partners. Understanding history holds great significance, as it often recurs, and the most effective means to counter hate is through education.”

“We want to spread the visibility of [LGBTQ+ Employee Resource Group] and highlight people within the larger university to show we can thrive on a Jesuit campus.”

Two video stills side by side with Amanda Phillips on the left with short hair and a shirt with flamingos and Ricardo Ortiz on the right wearing a blue collared shirt

Hispanic, Latino, Latinx or Latine?

Are gender-neutral terms like Latinx and Latine tailored English speakers? What’s the right word to use? How do you know who’s a part of the community? Professors Amanda Phillips and Ricardo Ortiz weigh in on the history, complexity and cultural significance of the identity terms they use to describe themselves and their communities.

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Pronoun Practices for Teaching and Learning

Creating inclusive learning and work environments for all of our community members to learn and thrive supports our Georgetown values of community in diversity, cura personalis (care of the person) and educating the whole person.

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Getting Involved in the DC Pride Festival

At this year’s DC Pride Festival, medical students from the Hoya Clinic and the Hoya Medical Pride Alliance offered free blood pressure and blood glucose screenings to the thousands of people who attended the annual event.

A Testimonial

“Creating more opportunities for women and underrepresented minorities to succeed in the neurosciences has been an important priority of the program since the beginning.”

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Legacy of LGBTQIA+ Advocacy

New generations of Georgetown students are taking up the legacy of LGBTQIA+ advocacy, organizing for the community and finding support among each other.