Explore The Herald's Pride 2023 Special Issue.
In 1973, The Herald published an article titled “Gay Liberation Comes of Age,” announcing the Brown University Gay Liberation club’s plans to organize and expand over the coming year, despite the challenges of existing on what was then an institutionally intolerant campus. At its first meeting of the semester, BUGL drew 25 students — what one group leader estimated was just a fraction of the queer population on campus.
Fifty years later, Brown’s queer community has continued to thrive. The LGBTQ Center — Stonewall House — recently moved to a newly renovated building on Benevolent Street. In the fall and spring, students came together to host queer pick-up soccer games. And even Spring Weekend had a distinctively rainbow flair this year, with artists such as Alice Longyu Gao, Doechii, Ethel Cain, 070 Shake and Remi Wolf bringing much-appreciated queer representation to the Main Green stage.
With this Pride 2023 Special Issue, The Herald aims to highlight queer experiences on Brown’s campus. You can read about how student artists are finding self-understanding through the production of queer art, or discover how LGBTQ+ self-identification has evolved among Brown students since 2010.
This special issue also looks beyond College Hill as laws targeting transgender communities proliferate across the country and states and school districts place bans on books featuring queer people and stories — while simultaneously highlighting media that focuses on joyous and authentic queer narratives.
We hope this special issue leaves readers with a deeper understanding of the role LGBTQ+ folks play in making Brown the vibrant campus we all call home. And as The Herald continues efforts to diversify its coverage to more consistently and holistically represent our school’s community, this special issue tells stories that are not just important during one month, but ones we aim to center year-round.
Staff who made this issue possible:
Editorial Board
Alex Nadirashvili, Managing Editor
Will Kubzansky, Editor-in-Chief
Katy Pickens, Managing Editor
Caleb Lazar, Senior Editor
Augustus Bayard, Senior Editor
Multimedia Staff
Ty Pham-Swann, Web Design
Rhea Rasquinha, Illustrations
Kaiolena Tacazon, Illustrations
Stella Tsogtjargal, Cover Illustration
Liana Haigis, Photography
Editors
Sofia Barnett, University News
Neil Mehta, University News
Kathy Wang, University News
Rhea Rasquinha, Metro
Senior Staff Writers
Ryan Doherty, University News
Indigo Mudbhary, University News
Sahil Balani, Arts & Culture
Columnists
Paulie Malherbe ’26
Editors’ notes are written by The Herald’s 133rd Editorial Board: Will Kubzansky ’24, Katy Pickens ’24, Alex Nadirashvili ’24, Augustus Bayard ’24, Caleb Lazar ’24, Peter Swope ’24 and Kaitlyn Torres ’24.
