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Pac-12 Conference

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of Champions

Pac-12 LGBTQIA+ Winter Inclusion Week celebrated across campuses and events

Mar 16, 2022

Several universities around the Pac-12 celebrated LGBTQIA+ Winter Inclusion Week from Feb. 12 - 19, which included activations for student-athletes and fans to engage with and learn about inclusion! See below for activations across campuses, and be sure to follow along for the Pac-12's Spring LGBTQIA+ Inclusion week which is set to take place April 9 - 16, providing an opportunity for spring sports teams to celebrate Pride during their games, meets and matches!

Utah Utes

  • Utah men's swimming team celebrated their Pride meet on Feb. 12th vs. USC, with themed tee shirts and with Swoop, the school's mascot, wearing his pride-themed suite.
  • Also in Salt Lake City, Utah's women's gymnastics team followed the men's swimming efforts with a Pride-themed meet, featuring Pride warmup tee shirts, music from LGBTQIA+ inclusive artists during beam performances, and by making an inclusion statement prior to the start of the meet with several Pride-themed graphics displayed across the venue's video boards. The team also met with Utah's LGBT Resource Center on campus to discuss inclusion and what it means to be an ally.

Arizona State Sun Devils

  • Arizona State women's gymnastics celebrated the week during their meet vs. UCLA, which featured the 942 Crew student section conducting a Pride tee shirt giveaway as the team wore the Pride-themed shirts during their warmups. 

California Golden Bears

  • Over in Berkeley, the Bears went all out for their Pride-themed meet vs. Arizona, which saw the team dawn Pride-themed leotards as well as warmup tee shirts. Cal also promoted content across social media and took part in several Pride-themed fan giveaways. 

Arizona Wildcats

  • Arizona hosted their "Wildcat Pride" meet on Feb. 25 vs. Utah, which featured social media content promotion for the first 300 fans in attendance receiving UofA tee shirts that read "Be Your Authentic Self" and #WildcatPride. LGBTQ Affairs Director Kristen Godrey also served as the honor captain while other representatives from the LGBTQ Affairs office were in attendance and featured during live video board acknowledgements.  

Colorado Buffaloes

  • The CU men's basketball team celebrated their Pride-themed game vs. Utah with their CAVA Scholarship promotion, and also recognized scholarship winners both on the video boards and with an on-court presentation. The Buffs also hosted a fundraiser for the CAVA Scholarship during the game and gave out CAVA buttons to fans.

Across all activations for Pac-12 LGBTQIA+ Winter Inclusion Week, the "Gymnasts for Peace, Action, and Change" (G-PAC) group was instrumental in working together to encourage gymnastics teams to support their LGBTQIA+ communities, and are in the process of creating a PSA to be featured in upcoming event opportunities.

The G-PAC's mission statement reads: "G-PAC facilitates an environment where diversity and inclusion is both welcomed and encouraged. Strives to ignite lasting change by sharing experiences, providing others with education and outside resources, and creating an authentic safe space for fellow student-athletes. Inspires others to thrive at the edge of their comfort zone furthering the journey to true equality."