We Were Born This Way! - DLA Scholars Walk To Show Off Their Pride

Justine Mamaradlo
Nov 8, 2017
2 min read

On Friday, November 3, 2017, Del Lago’s LGBTQ+ Club hosted their annual Pride Parade, in which all were welcome to walk and show off their pride. Everyone walked around the campus to the tune of “Born This Way” by Lady Gaga blaring in the background. Of course, everyone had their own reasons for participating. Some walked to show pride for their sexuality, while some walked to show pride for their gender. Others walked in support of their LGBT friends. No matter what, everyone had their own reasoning for walking.

So we asked some of the participants who were comfortable enough to answer: Why did YOU walk?

Amber Martinez, the president of LGBTQ+ Club, said, “The reason I walked in the parade is that I wanted to show everyone else on campus that they can be themselves. By walking out there with a rainbow flag cape in front of the rest of the school I hoped to show others that here they don’t have to hide, that they can be themselves and not be mocked or bullied or teased. And that goes for both LGBT scholars and non-LGBT scholars. I want to inspire people to be brave and to follow that voice inside them. And I want them to feel comfortable enough to be themselves.”

Amber Martinez, Senior, President of LGBT Club

Reese Welch responded with, “I walked in the parade because I wanted to show the rest of Del Lago that we’re here. A lot of people seem to forget that we LGBTQ+ people exist and that they go to school with a pretty substantial amount of us, so the parade was just our way of reminding them that hey, we’re here and we’re proud of our identities, and whether they agree with it or not that’s not going to change the fact that we exist.”