Duke in Pics: N.C. Pride Parade
Students and employees participate in N.C. Pride Parade and Festival for LGBTQ+ community
Members of the Duke and Durham community gathered Sept. 24 as part of an annual parade held on-and-around East Campus to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community. Photo by April Dudash.
Quinn Baker goes by the gender pronouns “they, them and their.”
When growing up in suburban Atlanta, Baker did not feel that gender and sexual identities were completely accepted. A Duke sophomore, Baker created a bucket list before going to college that included “Go to a Pride Parade.”
“The first affirming thing that I did was walk in Pride,” said Baker, whose first Pride parade was last year as a freshman Duke student in Durham. “I never thought I would be able to do it. I was emotional. …Now I’m helping other people feel that.”
Baker, along with other Duke students and employees, rode on the Duke Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity float in the N.C. Pride Parade in Durham on Saturday.
“I just love seeing how excited the students get,” said Nick Antonicci, director of the Duke Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity. “Their excitement is palpable. You can feel it.”
On the left, Duke sophomore Quinn Baker helps Skye Wilson, student development coordinator for the Duke Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity, apply face paint in the shape of a heart.
Duke sophomore Janelle Taylor takes photos of Duke students and employees walking in the N.C. Pride Parade. Taylor was documenting the experience for a new social media project, “Queer People of Duke,” which spotlights diversity of the queer community at Duke University. (Follow the project on Facebook and on Instagram.)
In the center, Nick Antonicci, director of the Duke Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity, helps hand out painted signs before the parade begins.