UPSU Pride Month Round Up

June is coming to a close! It's be a month of glorious weather and of course - Pride!

June is known as Pride Month, to commemorate the Stonewall Riots which happened in June 1969 and was a catalyst for change for the LGBTQ+ community.

We at the Union are allies to the LGBTQ+ community and are here to support you. Check out how we've been part of Pride Month this year:

UPSU @ Portsmouth Pride

If you came to Portsmouth Pride on Saturday 11th June - you might have seen us! 

We were sponsors of the event and had a fantastic time speaking to students, alumni, future students and members of the public! 

We had a stall for which offered freebies like pronoun badges, ally flag stickers, sweets, and prizes as part of a spin the wheel game such as rainbow fans, Amazon vouchers, and rainbow themed UPSU shirts!

If you would like your own Pronouns badge, head to our Advice Service where you can pick one up from the foyer for free!

Pride at The Union Shop

At the Union, we are known for our love of purple - but we also love a rainbow!

This year we have two rainbow items for you to show your colours including a Rainbow Lanyard and Rainbow t-shirts!

Especially in June, many companies release items in Pride colours - known as 'Rainbow Washing'. What usually comes with this is an increase in price to profit off Pride. This is not something we do at the Union. The cost of rainbow printing is more, simply because of the increase of inks and colours used - but there is no mark-up for profit.

The Pride Merch is still available and you can pick your shopping up in store or online. 

Throwback to February!

Back in February we hosted our Pride Ball. We last hosted our Pride Ball back in Feb 2020, before the pandemic, so we loved being able to put this on for students and the community once again. We host our Pride Ball in February for two reasons:

1. It's Pride History Month!
2. We know that many students go home or leave Portsmouth in the Summer months.

By hosting in February, it means that more students have the opportunity to attend! Did you come to our Pride Ball or any of our Pride History Month events?

Our Logo

Many companies, including us, change our logo in June to show our support to the LGBTQ+ community, especially our students. We went from classic UPSU Purple to the Progress Pride Flag!

But for lots of companies, once June is over, they change their logo back to their standard one, and their contribution to the support of the LGBTQ+ community during Pride Month is fulfilled - tick!

To us, that isn't good enough. Our support and activism has never, and will never, be performative. We truly believe in being a strong supporter and ally to the LGBTQ+ community. 

Pride is not a month to many people. It is an everyday lived experience, that goes beyond the parades and rainbows. 

Last year, and continuing this year, for the month of July, we have removed the colour from our logo, to show that the Rainbow belongs to those who live their Pride every day. 

You can find out more about being an active ally here.

Keep an eye out for all exciting activities, events and societies here at UPSU.