>As we enter into Pride Month this year, we want to both celebrate the solidarity of the LGBTQIA+ community and also recognize and lament the historic and current hardships. It is common for upsetting events and ongoing realities to negatively impact our emotional and mental well-being. At the EAP, we recognize the importance of seeking support from a mental health professional. Here is an EAP blog post that provides guidance for searching for a therapist by using filters to help ensure your needs are met.
We also want to reiterate that the EAP affirms the LGBTQIA+ community. EAP staff can meet with individuals interested in seeking support short-term, as well as can help people get connected to referrals in the community. You can reach out to the EAP by calling 512-471-3366 or emailing eap@austin.utexas.edu.
Beyond the EAP, Waterloo Counseling Center provides individual, group, couples, and family counseling to LGBTQIA+ individuals and also provides free, ongoing peer support groups
Moreover, OutYouth and the Kind Clinic< also provide a transgender wellness program to trans and non-binary adults with weekly virtual support groups and extensive community resource guides, including a directory of therapists who support trans wellness and resources for BIPOC individuals.
In addition to reaching out to community resources and mental health professionals, other way to tend to our well-being and commemorate Pride is to connect and support one another in community. At UT Austin, the Pride and Equity Faculty and Staff Association (PEFSA) is a university resource group that helps represent and connect LGBTQIA+ people and allies on campus. You can find more information about them here: https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/communities/5a1e4b10-94d6-419f-a972-e17b56bed3e5. You can also check out PEFSA’s Out At Work Toolkit that provides resources and support for people who are out or considering coming out in their workplace.
The Gender and Sexuality Center of UT Austin has also a compiled various Pride events that they are tabling at or co-sponsoring that people can attend and volunteer at:
Events the Gender and Sexuality Center is tabling at or co-sponsoring:
Round Rock Pride, Saturday 6/3/23, 3 pm-8 pm, Centennial Plaza, downtown Round Rock (GSC tabling)
Mutual Love: Rest Fest, Saturday 6/24/23, 2 pm-7 pm, 3409 East 5th Street Austin, TX 78702
Austin Pride: Saturday, 8/12/23 9 am-10 pm
Festival: 11 am-5 pm, Fiesta Gardens (set up 9 am)
Parade: 8 pm-10 pm, Downtown Austin (set up 4 pm)
Sign up to attend the Pride Parade with UT Austin Group here.
Here are other Pride events in the central Texas and Austin community shared by the Gender and Sexuality Center:
For info about all the Pride Events in Central Texas in June & July check out this post!
Queerbomb 2023, Saturday, 6/3/23, The Native
Lez B in Touch is hosting Dyke March at Cheer Up Charlies, Sunday 6/4/23, 3-11 pm
Rainbow on the Creek, Waterloo Park, 6/10/23
10:00 AM - 12:00 PM – Pride is for Families (Meredith Heritage Tree Deck)
6:00 PM - 10:00 PM – Pride Celebration (Moody Amphitheater at Waterloo Park)
Trans & Intersex Solidarity Event hosted by the National Center for Transgender Equality & InterACT Wednesday 6/14/23 5 pm on Instagram Live @transequalitynow or @InterACT_adv
Greetings from Queer Mountain: What it means to be out. Tuesday, 6/27/23, 8pm-10pm Cheer Up Charlies
Finally, Colors of Pride for LGBTQIA+ people of color is also having their second annual Pride Festival on Saturday, 6/24/23 from 12-6 pm in Mueller.