Last week, the Spectrum club, or the Gay Student Alliance, organized AustinISD Pride Week to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community at McCallum. The week of festivities corresponded with National LGBT Health Awareness Week and emphasized the district’s commitment to creating a “safe, supportive, and inclusive environment.”

On Monday, club members decorated the main hallway with pride flags and informational flyers and set up shop at a table to hand out stickers and flags to students and faculty. On Tuesday, speakers from the club held a panel in the library at lunch, where they answered questions about the LGBTQ+ community. Wednesday invited Knights to make and wear pronoun pins and stickers and Thursday was an opportunity to make pride-themed bracelets. On Friday, Spectrum hosted a viewing of queer short film “In A Heartbeat.”

This week, the club resumed regular activities, or that is, club meetings every Tuesday in Room 128, where any and all students are welcome.

We are proud to share some of the best moments from Pride Week in this week’s Tuesday Top 10.

SHOWING SUPPORT: Spectrum sponsor Kelly Wroblewski hangs up the aromantic pride flag in the main hallway on Monday. Many different LGBTQ+ identities were represented in the decor, setting the stage for PRIDE Week and contributing to what junior Emmylou Stephens feels is a generally inclusive atmosphere on campus. 

“The teachers and staff definitely want to be there for the students however they can,” Stephens said, “whether it’s teaching them a subject or supporting their identity as it relates to the LGBTQ+ community.”

Stephens enjoyed the PRIDE Week events, which reminded her of the community McCallum offers.

“I felt very supported,” Stephens said. “McCallum has really proved to be a home and a safe space for me while I’ve attended. And I got a sick lesbian bee sticker.”

Caption by Francie Wilhelm. Photo by Shila Gill.

YEAR ROUND PRIDE: Principal Nicole Griffith fixes a pride flag to the Knight mural in the main hallway. Though the official PRIDE Month is not until June, AISD has hosted PRIDE Week during the school year since 2014.

“I know that this isn’t when everyone else celebrates PRIDE, but I love that AISD takes a moment in the year to celebrate,”  Griffith said. “We can’t celebrate during the summer because all of our students are here, so taking that extra step so we can have that PRIDE Week where we validate and celebrate and empower students and staff and their families to feel that there is a place for them here is really important.”

Griffith compared the current environment favorable to her experience as a student growing up in a less tolerant age where it was much harder to LGBTQ+ students to be visible and free to express themselves.

“This whole generation is so much more accepting,” Griffith said. “As an educator, I think back to my own time as a middle and high school student, and there was zero representation and certainly no representation so to be able to see young people embrace diversity is really refreshing because that is not the world I grew up in.” 

Caption by Morgan Eye. Photo by Dave Winter.

PART OF HISTORY: Principal Nicole Griffith, journalism teacher Dave Winter and science teacher Elaine Bohls-Graham pose with PRIDE flags on the first day of AISD PRIDE Week. At his previous school in Midtown Atlanta, Winter witnessed a similarly accepting and robust observance of PRIDE Week; however, he feels that McCallum’s history and culture, particularly with Spectrum, make Mac’s PRIDE celebrations unique.

“For as long as I have been at Mac and before that, [Spectrum] has been vital in providing a safe space for LGBTQ students to be themselves,” Winter said. “The group has had a lot of turnover with faculty sponsorship in recent years, but its essential role has stayed constant through all of that. I think that the main thing is that Spectrum and PRIDE Week helps to give students a voice on campus.”

PRIDE Week closely followed Black History Month, where students and faculty organized similar events, like student panels. In both instances, Winter saw how crucial and courageous it is for students to lead the conversations on issues like identity.

“I was impressed [by] the fearlessness and leadership of the panelists and the willingness of students and teachers to listen and work to understand better the experience of others,” Winter said.

Caption by Francie Wilhelm. Photo by Shila Gill.

“PRIDE-IFYING” MAC: Spectrum kicked off the first day of AISD PRIDE Week by decorating the main hallway with pride flags and distributing stickers.

With a budget allocated by Principal Nicole Griffith the Spectrum club purchased flags and stickers to hand out to students as well as decorations used to “pride-ify” the halls, according to Spectrum leader junior Marshall Clifton.

“The message that I want to send to students on campus is just that it’s so much more than tolerated to be queer [at McCallum],” Clifton said. “We celebrate queerness and what it means to be yourself outside of what society might deem as normal. Everyone deserves to celebrate that whether you are in the community or not.”

Caption by Morgan Eye. Photo by Shila Gill.

SHARING AND LEARNING: To celebrate the second day of AISD PRIDE week, Spectrum held a student panel during lunch on Tuesday. The Q&A panel allowed the crowd to ask questions they had for the club’s representatives and to learn more about the LGBTQ+ community.

Senior Grey Ferrell, a panelist and Spectrum leader, said he was hoping to connect with the crowd by sharing his experiences as someone in the LGBTQ+ community.

“I was hoping to reach more LGBT and LGBT-supporting people at this school, so that other queer teens could maybe see us and relate to what we’re saying, or so that allies could understand our experiences and opinions a little more,” Ferrel said.

The panel fielded a wide variety of questions as well as talked about different microaggressions the panelists feel people need to be aware of.

“The microaggression question stood out to me,” he said. “With microaggressions, a lot of people don’t even realize when they’ve said something offensive. It’s important to be aware of what you say and don’t be afraid to ask questions.”

Photo and caption by Lillian Gray. 

THE IMPORTANCE OF IDENTITY: To celebrate the third day of Austin ISD PRIDE Week on Wednesday, Spectrum held a pronoun sticker event where people could come to pick up a pin at the front office or create their own sticker.

Junior and Spectrum leader Adrian Recar thinks that the event was important because of the importance of people’s pronouns. 

“Pronouns are important to most people, especially the transgender community because it’s a reflection of who the person is and how they want to be referred to [and] it’s important for PRIDE Week because gender identity is a part of pride too, just like sexuality,” Recar said. 

Caption by Gaby Esquivel. Photo by Dave Winter. 

SOMETHING SPECIAL: Science teacher Jace Klein picks up a pronoun sticker as part of Wednesday’s PRIDE week activity.  Klein is grateful that the school holds inclusive events like these.

“I love that we have a PRIDE Week on campus! I went to a rural high school where this never would have happened,” Klein said. 

Klein also noted how this year’s PRIDE week is special given the current legislation and political debates regarding the rights of LGBTQ+ Texans. 

“It is nice to see that we are able to do this, especially in our current Texas political climate.” 

Caption by Gaby Esquivel. Photo by Dave Winter. 

Spectrum member junior Zane Joly oversees Thursday’s bracelet-making table, where students were encouraged to make and wear Pride-themed accessories. Photo by Shila Gill.

English teacher Jennifer Wood and library clerk Lauren Alindogan sit in on the viewing of short film “In A Heartbeat” on Friday in Room 128. Photo by Gaby Esquivel.

LOOKING TOWARD THE FUTURE: Spectrum leaders juniors Marshal Clifton, Adrian Recar and senior Caytie Brown discuss the club’s future plans and reflect on PRIDE Week at a club meeting during FIT today in Room 128. Recar felt that while many aspects of Pride Week were successful, others failed to attract a large audience. 

“Our main events in the main hall received a lot of positive attention,” Recar said. “Our panel lacked visitors tough, and I really would’ve liked to see more people there.”

In the future, Spectrum hopes to boost membership through new activities and events outside of Pride Week, starting with club meetings in Room 128, where all McCallum students are welcome. 

Caption and photo by Francie Wilhelm.