This past Friday, Oct. 11, Fordham’s PRIDE Alliance hosted its annual Coming Out Dance. This event is hosted every year on National Coming Out Day in an effort to create a safe and inclusive space for any and all members of the LGBTQ+ community. According to the event announcement, it was geared mostly towards freshmen adjusting to college, but all were welcome.

“PRIDE’s goal is to provide intentionally inclusive spaces for LGBTQ+ students on Fordham’s Rose Hill campus,” said Max Luf, FCRH ’22 and PRIDE Alliance secretary. “Our annual LGBTQ+ History month events … serve as spaces for queer students at Fordham to not only be accepted, but celebrated by their peers,”

The night consisted of some dancing, eating and of course mingling, as the attendees all sat together, chatting. People from many areas of the university community attended including freshmen adjusting to college, student athletes looking for a bigger community, regular club members and graduate students.

Kylie Elwood, FCRH ’21, said that she felt welcome when attending the event.

“I had never been to a club meeting before and wasn’t sure what to expect, but when I walked in everyone immediately introduced themselves and made me feel like I hadn’t missed a thing,” she said.

David Rosen, FCRH ’20, said that the turn out for this year’s dance was great, even gathering a couple of Fordham graduates looking to be more involved with the university’s LGBTQ+ community.

“It also felt good being able to provide a safe and fun space for queer freshmen to express themselves, PRIDE gave me the same ability to be vulnerable and silly when I was a freshman, so it’s nice to return the favor to the next class,” he said.

October is LGBTQ+ history month, and the PRIDE Alliance is hosting a series of events, including the dance, in order to spread awareness and make it known to all students that they are accepted no matter their identity. The club’s OrgSync page says that its goal is to create a safe space for students to be themselves.

“PRIDE Alliance stands for People Recognizing Identities and Differences for Equality,” the club says. “[It] is devoted to supporting students as they integrate their sexual orientation and gender identity into their personhood.”

Luf said that this month specifically is about community and support.

“The central idea around this month is that in visibly supporting sexual and gender liberation, we can combat homophobia, transphobia and other bigoted views towards sexualities and gender identities,” he said.

The club has been spreading awareness throughout the month by putting up posters and placing flags on the lawn outside of Keating. The group has also hosted events such as its annual Speakout event at Rodrigue’s. The club said anyone from any background is encouraged to attend the events.

On Oct. 17 Pride Alliance will host a Town Hall run by its Activism Committee. It will be at 7:30 p.m. in Bepler Commons and will give people the chance to voice their opinions and discuss LGBTQ+ issues on campus.