Celebrating Pride Month: Embracing Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
During this always beautiful June, we are thrilled to watch cities around the world come alive with vibrant colors, music, parades, and a powerful sense of unity. It’s Pride Month, a time when the LGBTQIA+ community and its allies join together to celebrate and advocate for equality, diversity, and acceptance. Pride Month serves as a reminder of the ongoing struggle to achieve and maintain rights for ALL, and the significance of creating a world where everyone can embrace their authentic selves.
One of the fundamental pillars of Pride Month is celebrating the rich diversity within the LGBTQIA+ community. It encompasses individuals of different races, ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations, and identities. Pride Month reinforces the belief that diversity is a strength and that everyone should be valued for who they are. By embracing diversity, we foster a society that goes beyond simply being tolerant of our differences, but rather recognizing the beauty and joy of the rich tapestry we build through our uniquely special contrasts.
This month, we were honored to host our very first Annual Pride Fishing event at the always biting, Lake Lehow. At this event, we welcomed all as we caught fish (well, most of us), broke bread, and discussed the importance of having safe spaces where we can all feel comfortable to be exactly who we are. Environmental Learning for Kids (ELK) is committed to being such a space for all.
We meet folks where they are, and uplift individuals and our community in meaningful ways that make the world a little better of a place for each and every one of us through youth and family programming that increases bonds and sparks joy.
We would be remiss not to also uplift the many groups doing this important work specifically within the LGBTQIA+ community as well. Please consider exploring the following organization in particular:
Queer Nature: https://www.queernature.org/. Their mission “Envisions and implements ecological awareness and place-based skills as vital and often overlooked parts of resiliency-building and enchantment-tending for populations who have been marginalized and even represented as ‘unnatural.’ Our curriculums strive to go beyond recreation in nature to deep, slow, and thoughtful engagement with the natural world to build inter-species alliances and an enduring sense of belonging for all.”
As we continue to navigate our intersections, you can count on Environmental Learning for Kids to continue learning, growing, and showing up for all those that seek us out.
About Environmental Learning for Kids (ELK): Environmental Learning for Kids (ELK) is a Denver-based, nonprofit organization established in 1996 to address the growing need to introduce and educate Colorado’s racially diverse youth about science, leadership, and careers. Twenty-seven years later, ELK continues to provide strong educational support, good role models, and opportunities for positive community action for youth, helping them to become engaged, productive, and successful members of society. Learn more at elkkkids.org.
About the Author: Kristina Gray received her Bachelor of Art degree in Political Science from MSU Denver in 2011. She has been a part of the nonprofit sector for over 10 years. She is an alumnus of the Corporation for National and Community Service’s AmeriCorps VISTA program and the Hispanic Chamber Foundation’s Aspiring Leaders Program, Class of 2017. Kristina spends her free time advocating for justice and equity for all of Colorado’s youth & families and going on adventures with her husband and young daughter. Contact Kristina at kgray@elkkids.org.
