Boots, Bows and Rainbow Ties Gala starts Pride Week at Tech

To kick-off the fourth annual Pride Week at Tech on Oct. 8, the Office of LGBTQIA hosted the Boots, Bows & Rainbow Ties Gala in the Student Union Building Ballroom to celebrate the importance of inclusion.

Over 160 people, including students, faculty and staff of Tech, leaders of organizations on campus, and Lubbock community members attended the gala to show their support of the LGBTQI communities and overall appreciation of allies.

Jody Randall, the director in the office of LGBTQIA, said the gala gives attendees a chance to come together and celebrate the excitement ahead for Pride Week.

Compared to other institutions, Randall said Tech has one of the most comprehensive Pride Weeks – including workshops, film showings, trainings and drag pageants.

“We still face that issue of you can’t do that in West Texas. Yes we can, and yes we are,” Randall said. “We are an inclusive campus. We’re one of the best in the Big 12 and the state of Texas.”

The keynote speaker of the gala, Ronnie Sanlo, is an educator and scholar of LGBT identity development in higher education. During her discussion, Sanlo shared the history of LGBTQIA and her story of coming out in 1979 with the journey before and after that life-changing moment.

Sanlo said she knew she was a lesbian at a young age but did not think anyone else felt the same way, so she hid it. She ended up getting married to a male and having two children. When her kids were 9-years-old and the other was 12-years-old, Sanlo came out because she said she could not keep lying to herself, her family and her children. Through that, she lost custody of her children and did not see them again until they were in their 20s.

Although it meant losing some of her family, Sanlo said she grew her success after that because she did not want others to feel they were alone in the journey, like she did.

“Be an ally for all,” Sanlo said. “Go out, be out, shout out and change the world.”

Being in Lubbock for the first time, Sanlo said she does not know much about Lubbock, but she knows that Texas Tech is an amazing campus that allows students to be free and open.

“Regardless of what the outside area is, this place is a haven,” she said. “Colleges and universities to me are places of refuge, places of connecting and sharing, and learning how to be in your own skin.”

Jese Holland, junior music education major, said listening to Sanlo meant a great amount to him and allowed him to learn how to better prepare himself for a future in education.

“[Sanlo] was a member of administration in the past and has forged a way for the LGBT community within education, which is my livelihood.”

Holland said he hopes Pride Week will spread the word of the Office of LGBTQIA because there are resources available and beneficial for students to allow them to feel to have a safe place on campus.

“Coming here and having such a loving place to call my home of education has been phenomenal,” Holland said.

Details regarding the rest of the events of Pride Week are available online at lgbtqia.ttu.edu.

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