With pride flags draped, music playing and food on the grill, people gathered at the Leo Block Alumni Center on Tuesday, Sept. 18 for the Welcome Back BB“Q.” Students, faculty and staff all spent the sunny evening mingling, eating and celebrating a safe space on DU’s campus for members of the LGBTQ community.

The event was organized in collaboration with the DU Queer Student Alliance (QSA), the DU Pride Lounge and Jasmine Pulce, Assistant Director of Affinity Group Support and Co-Chair of Queer University Employees.

Pulce has been at DU since 2016, and the BB“Q” was a tradition before this time, a way of welcoming LGBTQ students both new and old to campus. It has since grown with attempts to expand outreach, as organizers and attendees of the BB“Q,” including Pulce, see a great deal of importance in inclusive events like it.

“For me personally, in my professional role, I support transfer students, students of color and LGBT students. LGBT students are the one community we cannot do direct outreach to, because we don’t collect that data via the admissions process. Events like this are ultra-important just to show visibility and representation, to try to establish and build community,” said Pulce.

The BB“Q” was a success, but it was also only the beginning of a quarter rich with LGBTQ-centered programming. Only one day after the BB“Q”, a mixer was thrown by QSA. They are also looking ahead to the month of October and celebrating LGBT History Month, including Oct. 11 as National Coming Out Day. Plans are in the works for Halloween and homecoming events, too, as well as programming for Transgender Awareness Week  in November.

Note: The Clarion recognizes that “LGBTQ” is not an all-inclusive acronym for all members of the community but uses it per AP Style guidelines.