The San Joaquin County Pride center (SJPC) is a nonprofit organization that was established this year in June 2011 to show support to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Transsexual, Questioning and Straight population.
A campus organization in the same vein, Delta Pride, has been around since 2005.
Brian Wick, the current president of Delta Pride and volunteer coordinator of SJPC discusses his involvement with both the county center and college club.
QUESTION: What is the Delta Pride and SJPC all about?
ANSWER: “We are basically the Gay-Straight Alliance. We hold hate-free meetings for those who are Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Transsexual, Questioning and Straight Allies. We are here to promote tolerance of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgendered (LGBT) community and to provide a place for people like us and our allies to go. My job is basically to keep things running and make sure everyone else in the club is doing their jobs. As for my job at SJPC, I am in charge of making sure that we have people to help run the center, and also to make sure that we have people for the events.”
Q: What are your goals and future plans for Delta Pride and SJPC?
A: “National Coming Out Day is coming up Oct. 11, which should be a lot of fun. We are planning to have City Councilwoman Susan Eggman to speak in the Tillie Lewis Theater that day. She is an out and proud lesbian so it is pretty exciting. We also are planning movie nights through the semester and hopefully the year. Delta Pride may be doing activities with SJPC once the center opens its doors.”
Q: Are there any changes that you would like to make?
A: “You know I think we are doing a good job with making changes on this campus. We are opening up a Pride Center on campus (Cunningham 428) and we are implementing a SafeZone project on campus which allows LGBT and Questioning students to come to teachers if they are having any serious issues. It is also really nice to see new members join the club who are just as passionate about LGBT issues as I am; who I am hoping will continue to further the growth of this club.”
For more information on the Delta Pride Club, go to sjdc-deltapride.jigsy.com.
SJPC will be opening its doors sometime in October 2011.
For more information, go to sanjoaquinpridecenter.weebly.com