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The Principal’s Action Group for Gender and Sexual Diversity (PAGGAS) is leading an effort to support and celebrate the 2SLGBTQIA+ community year-round.

Called Pride 365, this research-informed, consultative initiative aims to strengthen 2SLGBTQIA+ inclusion, visibility, and celebration throughout the year, cultivating an environment where those who identify as 2SLGBTQIA+ feel acknowledged and supported each day.

“The work of PAGGAS reflects the inclusive environment Queen’s strives to build,” says Patrick Deane, Principal and Vice-Chancellor. “Their efforts are helping to ensure that 2SLGBTQIA+ community members are recognized and supported not only in classrooms, but across campus. This contributes to a university where people feel welcome and able to be themselves.”

To develop a more comprehensive program that extends beyond symbolic gestures like painting crosswalks or flying Pride flags, PAGGAS invites Queen’s students, staff, and faculty to that will help guide the future of Pride 365. The survey is open until April 20.

Graduate students Rina Khan and Ahamad Ashiq Abdul Rahiman have been instrumental in bringing student feedback into the project. Both joined the action group through the Queen’s University Doctoral Internship in University Administration (QDIUA) program, collaborating to design, implement, and analyze feedback in support of Pride 365.

“Having studied and worked in different places, I’ve seen how much it matters when an institution creates space for people to belong,” says Ahamad Ashiq Abdul Rahiman. “When people feel seen and supported, it changes what they learn and believe is possible, be it in the classroom, in the workplace, or in the community.”

Rather than telling a singular story, the initiative draws on community feedback to reflect many perspectives, including those shaped by intersecting identities such as race, disability, faith, and lived experiences.

“As a transgender immigrant, I have not had an easy path to having my voice heard,” says Khan. “I saw this work as an opportunity to give voice to the 2SLGBTQIA+ community that I had so often longed for. A chance for our community to decide what makes us feel celebrated, rather than have that decided for us.”

June has long marked an important time for the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. Demonstrations in Ottawa and Vancouver in 1971 commemorated the 1969 Stonewall Riots in New York City, widely considered a pivotal moment in 2SLGBTQIA+ activism. By 1973, Pride events were being held throughout Canada in June, solidifying it as Pride Month.

“My biggest takeaway is that inclusion is built through consistent, everyday practice,” says Rahiman. “It’s not one month of visibility, it’s what happens in meetings, in policies, in classrooms, and in the everyday moments where people decide whether it’s safe to show up as themselves.”

Beyond celebration, Pride 365 hopes to serve as a bridge between allies and those outside the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. PAGGAS hopes to hear from community members at all stages of understanding, including those who may be new to or still exploring 2SLGBTQIA+ perspectives.

“Ultimately, the opportunity at a university is to see outside of yourself, and to understand different perspectives or ways of looking at the world,” says Alex Pedersen, Manager, EDII Capacity Development, McDonald Institute; Adjunct Assistant Professor, Masters of Earth and Energy Resources Leadership, and PAGGAS co-chair. “My invitation to that very small group of people that exists (who do not consider themselves allies) is to come and listen, and to challenge yourself. Because if you are here to get a Queen's degree, I think that also means that you're here trying to be a leader, and leadership that is from one perspective, that doesn't include the voices of others, it's lazy leadership in my mind.”