McLean students showed their support and appreciation for the GLBTQ community through a variety of activities as part of the annual Pride Week during the week of June 1 through 5. This year, Pride Week consisted of many spirit days and activities during all lunches.

“The goal of Pride Week was first of all to have fun, and second of all to spread awareness about the GLBTQ community,” said Gay-Straight Alliance club sponsor Tara Dwyer. Students participated in spirit days such as pajama day, tacky day, and Pride Day, during which they wore rainbows. The rock was painted in commemoration of the week.

On Monday, June 1, many students elected to participate in the Day of Silence to raise awareness.

“The day of silence is a day where students elect to remain silent to mirror the plight of GLBTQ youth who don’t feel that they have a voice,” Dwyer said. “And by remaining silent, it aims to show that some people can’t speak up for themselves.”

Freshman Haley Rose stayed silent to show her support for the GLBTQ community.

“I think that the issues they face in society often go overlooked. People think stuff like [what happened in the Laramie Project] is old, but it isn’t. There’s still a lot of stuff going on if you look at the statistics, and we need to show our support,” Rose said.

Students remaining silent on this day carried around small slips of paper explaining their reasons for staying silent.

“When we explained it to people, it was great to see their reactions,” said sophomore Gigi Iyob, GSA co-president. “Some argued that [staying silent] was not helping because we should have showed how loud our voices are, but help comes in different ways.”

The Gay-Straight Alliance was in charge of running the spirit week. The club meets every Tuesday in room B167.

“GSA is incredibly important to me because there could be a lot of people struggling with their sexuality/gender and it’s important to let them know that they have a safe space. I love the club because everyone is open about how they feel and very understanding with each other’s situations,” Iyob said.

GSA members were thrilled with the turnout of spirit and positive response from the school that was shown during Pride Week.

“A lot more people participated than we originally thought,” Dwyer said. “I think that [Pride Week] was a big success.”