Illinois Pride Alumni Network

The University of Illinois Pride Alumni Network is open to all who wish to serve as positive role models for students and alumni. (Image by Fred Zwicky)

The UIAA has launched the University of Illinois Pride Alumni Network—a group that will support two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, intersex, and asexual (2SLGBTQIA+) alumni and their allies. The group is open to all who wish to join, says Tyler Gagai, UIAA director of alumni clubs and engagement.

Rev. Jason Carson Wilson, ’99 MEDIA, serves as the network’s board president. He believes that group members can be positive role models for students and alumni. “We’re in a climate that calls for creating a sense of community and, frankly, letting people know we’re here,” he adds.

Fellow board member Elvis Guzman, ’11 LAS, says that the group is far-reaching in membership potential. “We live in the age of Zoom and Teams, [which makes] the group accessible for folks who are not in Champaign or Chicago,” he says. Their strategy is to recruit locally then more broadly as membership grows. “We want to start by making an imprint on the university by hosting events there,” he adds.

The Pride Alumni Network has high hopes for success. “We feel confident in what we’re doing and we believe there will be a lot of support,” Guzman says. Wilson closes with a modified rallying cry made popular during the 1990s gay rights movement: “We’re here. We’re queer. And we’re Illinois alumni.”

Anyone wishing to join or support the group can register online at go.Illinois.edu/IllinoisPrideAlumniNetwork.