By: Anthony Orrico and Maya-Claire Glenn
As a part of the annual OUTober celebration, Associated Students Incorporated had planned on raising the LGBTQ+ Pride flag outside the University Student Union. While the flag was initially going to be raised on Oct. 2, the plans were scrapped on Sept. 18 with no publicly stated reason.
The plan to raise the Pride flag was something not many Long Beach State students knew about, as it wasn’t widely advertised.
“One of the early decisions was to raise a flag, which we all philosophically believe in and would like to do. But after we found out that the flag raising would be part of the celebration, we had to ask for reconsideration,” Miles Nevin, executive director of Associated Students, Inc., said.
According to Nevin, ASI does not have a specific policy on flag-raising at the USU which is what led to the decision to not include it in the celebrations.
However, the information provided by Nevin conflicts with what was said by Avery Morgan, ASI commissioner of LGBTQIA+ affairs, on why the plan to raise the flag was shut down and by whom.
Morgan asked her advisor, Joe Nino, the assistant director of Government Affairs and Initiatives for ASI, about the decision to not raise the Pride flag and the potential involvement of the Chancellor’s Office. According to Morgan, Nino said the legal team of the Chancellor’s Office told ASI that there could be potential legal repercussions, but could not dictate ASI’s actions directly.
The Chancellor’s Office did not immediately respond to our request for comment.
Morgan initially approached the Queer Students’ Alliance about working with ASI and in conjunction with the Office of Multicultural Affairs to raise the Pride flag for the entire month of October for the university’s celebration.
“The only communication that we’ve had with ASI so far would be with Avery,” Ashton Ramos, president of the QSA, said. “Previously, we didn’t really communicate with ASI at all, because prior LGBTQ commissioners, they had never even spoken to the club. And so this is the first time that we’ve actually even had communication.”
Morgan said the plan was originally to raise the flag for the entire month of October. Then, that was dwindled down to just a week, then a day and then canceled altogether.
Ramos expressed frustration over the decision and lack of explanation as to why the flag would not be raised.
“I understand that logic, but to have it so suddenly happen is the thing that irritates me the most about it,” Ramos said. “It’s not the first time that the university has done this to us, where they make a decision, and then they expect us to be okay with it.”
Ramos referred to when the university decided to relocate the LGBTQ+ Resource Center on campus. While CSULB held a meeting for students on where to move the center the meeting was held during finals week. This barred many students from attending and having an opportunity to adequately voice their opinion.
OUTober celebrations still kicked off on Oct. 2 with no Pride flag being raised. In contrast, Cal State Bakersfield did raise a Pride flag during their celebrations.
For more information on all ASI multicultural events happening on campus, students can visit the ASI website.