While Algonquin’s Pride Centre has been open and operating since the beginning of the semester, a ribbon-cutting ceremony Nov. 23 made if official.
In a previous interview with the Times, SA president Egor Evseev said that they were delaying the ceremony until the end of November in order to fully prepare.
He said that the school, along with the SA were working hard together to ensure that “the space received the celebration that it truly deserved.”
And that is just what it got.
The ceremony filled the hallways surrounding the Pride Centre with students and staff celebrating the official launch.
Algonquin president Cheryl Jensen noted that although it is a special day for the college, she is hopeful that one day the centre will become unnecessary.
“While I don’t want to take away from the celebration,” said Jensen. “Similar to our Mamidosewin Centre, I hope that in five or 10 years there will be no need for a centre like this anymore as we will have a fully inclusive community.”
The Pride Centre is a safe, open, inclusive, non-discriminating space for all students of the college no matter their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Jensen says that she hopes students will start to think of all of Algonquin this way and not just the space within the walls of the centre.
“I don’t want a single person to feel apart from this community,” said Evseev. “Instead, we really want everyone to feel a part of the Algonquin community.”
The Pride Centre can be found on the first floor of the B-building in room 102. It is easily recognizable by the surrounding rainbow painted columns and arrows pointing in the direction of the space, which is tucked away in a hallway corner.
Coordinator Quinn Blue, who has an extensive background working with the LGBTQ+ community, runs the centre. As the past coordinator of University of Ottawa’s Pride Centre, “the Pride Centre is in very good hands with Quinn,” said Evseev.
As for Algonquin’s Queer Straight Alliance group, they will now be “dissolved into the Pride Centre,” said Kayla Spagnoli, who helped run the group last year, as there is no need for them to meet outside of the space now.
“The history of the QSA and getting a Pride Centre here at Algonquin has been a long one, so I’m thankful to finally see the space open,” said Spagnoli. “I know that inside it’s walls, there will be compassion towards all those who enter regardless their sexual orientation or gender identity.”